Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Wednesday, 11 February 2004) . . Page.. 194 ..

has used and Mr Wood has used one of my ideas. Perhaps we are the people who are actually doing something for the citizens of Canberra.

Somebody from the government mentioned “in the public interest”. Does “in the public interest” mean that you make a decision, steamroll everybody, leave everybody else behind and do what you were going to do anyway? The way in which the Planning Minister deliberately approached this matter has caused this very problem, and now they are crafting the way these things are delivered so that we now blame the residents of Fadden and Macarthur. We make them nimbys or people who do not like drug addicts. Blind Freddy could have seen that, once this was made public, it was going to cause major nervousness in the community.

We are not talking about a dimwit population. We are talking about highly educated people who fully and well understand the needs of the people in our community, particularly of the people at Karralika. People who are trying to get off drugs obviously need all the support they can get. I do not think I have had one email from anybody in Fadden and Macarthur. I am sorry Mr Hargreaves only got three; I think I have had 30 or 40. So what happened? I wonder why people are not contacting the government.

No-one in Fadden and Macarthur has ever said they do not want to see a facility like Karralika in their midst. We are talking about a planning issue. Mr Corbell, the Planning Minister, wants to cloud it with this health issue. Of course there is a health matter, but this debate is not about that. It is about planning—open, honest, transparent consultation. Those are not words from this side of the house; they are the government’s own words. The Planning Minister, in his ineptness to deal with this extremely important matter in a more sensitive way, is now busy blaming everyone. A real trend is emerging: “Let’s blame everybody else. It’s not my fault. I am the minister. I can just stand back, abrogate my responsibility and blame anybody else. It wasn’t me.”

I think the approach of spreading facilities on the same scale as Karralika is the way to go. Why don’t we look at it as we do in housing, with a salt and pepper approach across the community? It works well. And people still do not know about many of those properties around Canberra. We do not need to make it public. Unfortunately, the Planning Minister, in the way he went about this matter, has made it public—not the residents of Fadden and Macarthur. Don’t let him say it has been them, Mr Speaker. That is downright rude.

I wonder whether the Planning Minister is now looking at other options, given that the community have raised the very valid concerns they have. The minister has indicated that using his call-in powers does not mean it would get the green light, so I hope he has got a plan B, one that he should have had for those people who desperately need the services that he, quite rightly, talks about. No-one is denying that these people need help.

But I notice, with some disdain and alarm, that you are twisting and deflecting this debate to another matter to deflect the heat that is on you for the poor way in which this process has been dealt with. Minister, you said that we should not take our eyes off the ball. The issue being debated today is a planning matter. No-one disputes the fact that we need more facilities. All the residents agree. All the residents that would sit in that gallery are not heartless creatures who say, “We don’t want drug addicts in our community.” How rude of you to insinuate that. But let’s remember, as you said, to keep

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .