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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Wednesday, 11 February 2004) . . Page.. 221 ..

I organised to visit this resident’s house the following day, on the Friday evening. I also had a conversation with her at that point about the Tuggeranong Community Council meeting. She said that she would be going to that. I know that she did. I said that I would see her there, and I did, and we confirmed that I would be going to see her the next day. That visit was scheduled for the Friday afternoon after 5 o’clock.

Of course, that night I went to the Tuggeranong Community Council meeting. That was the Thursday night. A few people in this place have spoken about the number of people who went. I saw and heard many very upset people. I suspected that a number of people would be upset. People were not fully aware of the plans and were talking to each other. Many people had become very upset by what they perceived would be the extensions for Karralika. (Extension of time granted.) Many of these people were very upset and very angry about the development application not going through the normal process. I have sympathy with that. If I were in their place I would have been incredibly upset as well.

I do not get involved with planning issues very much. However, recently a house behind my house was seeking to extend. I got a notice from ACTPLA. Being behind the house that was being extended I went to the website, had a look at the plans and said, “Yes, whatever, I do not care”, and left it at that. Some people in our community spend a lot of time checking out what planning is going to be taking place. But as a general rule I walk past the notice on the street and say, “Right, they’re going to be knocking this house down, and putting in a duplex” or “They’re going to be extending this or doing work”, and I just keep walking and I do nothing else about it.

After the meeting on Thursday night I spoke to many of the people there and discussed their issues concerning the proposed extension. During the meeting, and afterwards in discussions, I heard many people who had ideas and perceptions about Karralika and the plans. Many people said to me that they had no objections to Karralika in its current form. I believed a lot of their information and ideas about it were wrong. I set the record straight where I believed that to be the case.

At no point were the conversations that I had after the meeting at all antagonistic. As I said, at the very end of the meeting I made the commitment that I, along with Mr Hargreaves, would speak to the minister about the concerns of the residents in Macarthur and Fadden about Karralika. The very next day Mr Hargreaves and I did that: we spoke about the concerns of the residents surrounding Karralika.

In one of the conversations I had after the meeting—such was the extent of upset and misinformation that people had—a resident in the area referred to the residents of Karralika as “inmates”, at which point I quickly said that these people are in there by choice; they have not been incarcerated. He said, “Oh, okay.”

At all times I have tried to be—and I believe I have been—both open and honest with the Fadden and Macarthur residents, the people in the department and ADFACT. I am trying to discover what the plans are, the best way forward and how I can help my constituents. I know that people are angry at the idea that I have not come out and attacked the minister, but I do not believe that that would be constructive. The best way to be constructive is to find out the whole story and not to spread misinformation.

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