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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Wednesday, 10 March 2004) . . Page.. 999 ..

setting a standard—a standard that this government falls below, a standard that it does not match now. It has made some glib announcements. It said that there would be no glib announcements and media stunts but that is what we are getting.

We get a patronising speech from Mr Corbell. Apparently he must know more about planning than any of us here. He is the one who knows everything. He is the one who can tell you how to build a sustainable city. Again, the work in the spatial plan was started with the commissioning of an OECD report by me. There was an acknowledgement from the previous government that there was to be greater density around Civic. We commissioned the OECD to tell us how to do that, and that is bearing fruit today in parts of the spatial plan. Mr Corbell, you should put things into context because people will always catch somebody like you out.

I thank Mr Hargreaves for moving the motion. It is nice to acknowledge that the needs of the community are often met. I am certainly pleased to work with the community at any time. It was very pleasing to set up the wetlands project. It is a great example of the community coming together and deciding what they wanted. They heard all sides of the argument. The Greens, the Labor Party and the Liberal Party were involved and we got a pretty good outcome.

It does raise an issue though. Mr Corbell said that connectivity is important but that the Nettlefold Street trees are not connected to a nature reserve and, therefore, can be cut down. It is interesting that before the last election Mr Wood and Mr Humphries agreed to save a nice stand of pines on blocks 16 and 17, section 226 Gowrie, behind the Holy Family Parish Primary School.

Mr Wood: I promised that about eight years ago.

MR SMYTH: Pines probably aren’t the most popular trees in the Territory at the moment but the majority of pines behind the presbytery of the Catholic Church on Bugden Avenue and the open area of pines behind the Holy Family Parish Primary School next to the presbytery have been saved. There is a stand of pines—I think it is block 15—that extends from the back of the presbytery through to the first back streets of Fadden. I noticed when driving past that block that there is a “For Sale” sign. So I assume all those trees are going to be chopped down. Mr Corbell stands here and in his patronising way preaches to us that, if there is no connectivity, the land doesn’t get saved. Well, he is just about to cut down one of those connections. The Minister for Planning, the minister responsible for ACTPLA, is about to sell off a block of land for medium density housing.

I am not sure how many trees on a block survive a medium density development. I suspect the answer in this case is nil. I suspect all of those pines will go. Those pines will provide the connectivity between Fadden Pines District Park and the Hannah Park. Hannah Park is now disconnected. I ask Mr Corbell if he has the nerve to come back and explain how selling that block of land and cutting down those trees increases the connectivity that he thought was so important in maintaining different stands and different ecosystems.

Mr Wood: I am not sure it had much to do with Mr Corbell. That was a decision Mr Humphries and I took.

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