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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Tuesday, 9 March 2004) . . Page.. 890 ..

issues. We must not lose sight of the fact that we are all in it for one reason: the benefit of Canberra overall.

Spatial plan

MR HARGREAVES: Can the Minister for Planning advise the Assembly of the response to the Stanhope government’s spatial plan which the minister launched last week?

MR CORBELL: Yes, I will be very pleased to do so. It gives the opportunity, in particular, to refute some of the untruths that the Leader of the Opposition has peddled around the views of the business industry in Canberra about our spatial plan. I recall that Mr Smyth spoke to the Property Council and said that the Property Council claimed—

Mrs Dunne: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. Is it appropriate for the Minister for Planning to accuse the Leader of the Opposition of peddling untruths?

MR CORBELL: For the benefit of question time, I will withdraw any unparliamentary allegation, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: That is all very well, but I think that it is stretching the point to say that members cannot say that somebody was peddling untruths. It is not to suggest that somebody was deliberately lying and that sort of thing. The language that flies to and fro in this chamber is not exactly the sort of stuff that you hear in the average living room while you are having a cup of tea. This place is robust. There is a fair bit of sensitivity about these issues but, as Mr Corbell has withdrawn, we will just proceed.

MR CORBELL: Mr Smyth asserted that the Property Council’s view of the spatial plan was that it was gobbledegook. That was the claim that Mr Smyth made in the newspaper. I draw Mr Smyth’s attention to a media statement released by the Property Council last Friday that gave the spatial plan nine out of 10 as a strategic planning document—a very strong endorsement.

Mr Smyth: It is a good thing you revised it.

MR CORBELL: You must hate to see the Property Council coming on board and supporting a Labor government and its planning policy, but the reality is that nine out of 10 was the mark that the Property Council gave to the spatial plan.

There has been a very favourable response to the spatial plan since it was launched last Friday. It began with the cover of the Canberra Times of 5 March announcing the East Basin urban renewal project. Indeed, the Canberra Times described the proposed development in the Molonglo Valley as a bold vision for the future shape of the city. The National Capital Authority has given its blessing to the East Basin project. That was reinforced—

Mr Smyth: We told you that it was there. So did we.

Mrs Dunne: So did we. We told you to do it months ago.

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