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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Friday, 14 May 2004) . . Page.. 2027 ..

MR SMYTH: Words very carefully chosen. One always chooses words carefully when dealing with you, Treasurer. This side of the house would like to see it resolved quickly. Certainly, commitments were made in previous years of three-month timeframes but, under this government, it has been going on for 27 months. That is a bit long for a contractual dispute and, for a small or medium business, that can also be deadly.

The departments of treasury and health are having wage negotiations and our concerns have already been made known there. The Department of Urban Services has asked for more money in regard to things like bushfire recovery, and we note that that is going on.

As to implementation of the water resources strategy, $280,000 does not seem to be a significant amount for a significant issue. We would raise concerns there as well. I look forward, in terms of the Cotter precinct and the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve work, to that going ahead swiftly. The Cotter precinct work started when I was minister. There is an enormous amount of potential out there in the white water that runs in Paddy’s River when we get a bit of rain all the way through to the quite unique cave complex out there. Having that work progress, even though it has taken 2½ years, is worthwhile. We would certainly be supportive of it on this side of the house.

Under the ACT Planning and Land Authority there is reference to the purchase of Phillip Oval. The estimates committee had some concerns about the way the minister handled himself and about the information that was released. The committee asked for all documents to be tabled in the Assembly. I notice that we have had an interesting response from the government. It has said, “If you want some documents you can ask for them, but here’s a bit of a chronology. The former government knew of it.” Of course the former government knew of it. The work started under the former government and was not completed by the time it left office.

But it does seem, from my reading of it, that ACTAFL is being backed into a corner when there were potentially other buyers who, in accordance with the what the minister had said, would have met the conditions to keep the lease running in compliance with the current lease conditions, which, of course, are to run it as a sporting facility. We asked for documents for all of the third parties. The minister gave us the documents from a third party, but forgot to mention that there was another third party. That came to light in the committee hearings. The committee recommended that the purchase not go ahead, because the purchase would come with a liability for the ACT.

I note that in the budget documents for this year there is an amount of $60,000 or $80,000 for maintaining the oval. That is something that the Hellenic Club quite clearly was willing to take on. I think that it is a shame that yet again the minister, who twists and weaves, did not deliver all the documents that the committee clearly had asked for, and he should have done. Mrs Cross might like to have a few more words to say about that.

Ms MacDonald: You gave an hour and a half to get the documents.

MR SMYTH: Obviously, the wound is proportional to the response and the snapping over there from Ms MacDonald. Clearly, a raw wound has been rubbed, so off they go. ACTAFL had an opportunity, I suspect, to make slightly more money than the

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