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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Wednesday, 10 March 2004) . . Page.. 1013 ..

People have indicated to the recovery centre that they want to move on. They see this as a vital part of their personal recovery, the recovery of their families and the recovery of their community. We would not have done it otherwise. In that light, the government will not support the motion. I have nevertheless, to allay or assuage some of the concerns that are expressed by the opposition, prepared an amendment which does go to reporting back to the Assembly, to providing information to the opposition and those members of the Assembly that have some desire for further information, particularly in relation to proposed future arrangements and, of course, our commitment to consult fully and as necessary with residents. I move:

Omit all words after “that”, substitute:

“this Assembly notes the considerable contribution made by the Bushfire Recovery Centre to bushfire survivors and the Canberra community and calls on the Government to:

(1) continue to provide the services of the Recovery Centre in a form that is visible and easily accessible to the clients of the Centre;

(2) continue to properly and extensively consult with bushfire survivors and other stakeholders on their future needs;

(3) engage in a process of closure that is positive to the clients of the Centre; and

(4) report to the Assembly by the last sitting day of May on the results of the consultation and proposed future arrangements for bushfire recovery services.”.

I commend the amendment to the attention of members.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Arts and Heritage) (5.30): Like everything else it has done, the recovery centre has worked extremely well—extremely effectively.

Mrs Burke: Nobody is doubting that.

Mr Smyth: Nobody doubts that.

MR WOOD: You contest it. I heard you speak. You contest that point and you say, “This isn’t good enough, we’ve got to extend, expand and do all sorts of things.”

Mrs Burke: We did not.

MR WOOD: Go and read your own words. The problem we have here is the competition on private members day. You proposed this motion, no doubt completely unaware of all that had been happening. You just did not know the way that this had been worked through so, on this private members day, you brought in a motion that was simply unreasonable. We saw earlier in the day a motion where there was an acceptable result in the end, but it was negotiated on the floor here. Why would you not come and ask some questions? “What is proposed about all this?” If you had come and asked some questions—if you had spoken to people who know about it—you would not have brought forward this motion.

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