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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Wednesday, 10 March 2004) . . Page.. 1000 ..

MR SMYTH: Thank you for that, Mr Wood. I acknowledge that Mr Wood and Mr Humphries struck the deal. The committee said that blocks 16 and 17 of 226 would be saved, except that block 15 has now been sacrificed. This government, which is apparently committed to connectivity, to having corridors of green, is about to cut asunder one of those corridors: it is about to disconnect Hannah Park from Fadden Pines District Park, to stop that connectivity. The minister ought to come and explain why.

Yes, we need some medium density housing, some adaptable housing and some aged care in the valley, but we have this double standard and I would like the minister to come and answer for that double standard. I think people in Gowrie were of the impression, based on the deal between Mr Wood and Mr Humphries, that all those trees would be saved, but they are going to go. Mr Corbell, you talked about knowing how this works, the need for green corridors and the need for connectivity. Come back now and tell us about the need for chainsaws to cut down those pines, to destroy the green belt, to break the connectivity and to isolate Hannah Park.

Well done, Mr Hargreaves, for bringing on this motion. I am very proud of the wetlands. They work very well. The local schools have used them a lot for educational programs and have taken an interest in them. The Conder landcare group still cares for them and works on them and that has to be a good thing.

MR HARGREAVES (4.42), in reply: I thank members for their support for the motion even if they did digress somewhat into areas of policy—

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Indeed they did.

MR HARGREAVES: and talk about the lack of trees in Antarctica. I digress a bit too far. I will come back to the subject as well. I acknowledge Ms Dundas’s qualified support. She would like to see more preservation, as we all would. I don’t think anybody in this place would say, “Let’s hear the delightful sound of chainsaws starting up.” Ms Dundas talked about the loss of trees in Belconnen. The motion was all about saving trees, saving the grassy woodlands in Conder. I too mourn the loss of trees, but the minister’s point about a stand of trees in the middle of an industrial area of a town centre, choked off by fumes from cars, is just a little different from a pristine nature park.

Mrs Dunne cannot accept a positive outcome. She cannot say, “Good on you,” and leave it at that. She cannot accept that without dropping a bucket full of bile, full of malevolence, on all the people that have shown a commitment to nature conservation. She can’t help herself, but we have grown used to that and we love her anyway. How the position shifts! She is bagging out the government for not saving the trees in Nettlefold Street, yet she worked for the very government that sold the land, knowing full well when they sold the land that the lovely sound of a chainsaw buzzing away at Belconnen would happen.

Mr Wood: Did they change their mind?

MR HARGREAVES: Not until the election, no. The government then changed their mind and said, “We love the sound of chainsaws; let’s build some more.” How the roles

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