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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Friday, 14 May 2004) . . Page.. 2042 ..

Also relevant to this discussion is that the nearby Hellenic Club has also made an offer to ACTAFL to take over the concessional lease and to run the oval in its present form. That is, on the surface, an attractive offer, particularly to ACTAFL, who would anticipate a better return. There are, however, issues that would not be able to be resolved if that process were to happen.

In the first case, there is a commitment to using the oval for competition sports, including quality Australian Rules football. If the oval were to be used for extensive training as well as weekend competition, its standard would deteriorate. Ovals in the ACT are not as resilient as those in Sydney, for example. They cannot recover from wear as quickly, particularly in winter.

If Phillip Oval were used as a multiuse, non-competition, standard oval, it would lose its competition status, and its $5 million replacement value would be wasted. It would make more sense to downgrade it to establish a new general purpose ground somewhere in the general direction of the cemetery, or perhaps near the Lyons school, and for the government to sell the facility for residential or mixed use development. Consequently, in our view, no transfer of lease to any other organisation should take place until there has been a transparent and public process to establish the parameters of use.

The other point regarding the oval is that the Launceston Avenue end of the block is identified in the recently launched master plan as suitable for development. It would make sense in my view for government to excise this part of the block and sell it in accordance with the plan. I would, however, want to see any profit made from that sale reinvested in the oval, if it were to be managed by an agency of the ACT government.

I think the Hellenic Club proposal has merit and I would hope that, once ACTAFL has agreed to surrender its lease to the ACT government, which I understand it is prepared to do, the ACT government would run some kind of open process that would allow the Hellenic Club to put its proposal into the public arena, and the best outcome could be reached and be seen to be reached.

Finally, there is the issue of the need to appropriate these funds promptly. I am aware that there is still commercial interest being shown in the Phillip Oval lease. I am aware that another fairly prompt deal with the Hellenic Club is also on the cards. Both of which would preclude the Canberra government and community from ensuring a satisfactory program for use. I would venture that it is for that reason that it was, and is, important for the government to have a sufficient sum on hand to compensate ACTAFL for the value of its improvements to the property.

I appreciate that the Hellenic Club might be frustrated with this position but, if their interest in the oval is, as it appears to be, consistent with the community interest in its use and is not dependent on any associated development projects, any reasonable, open process would put their offer in an attractive light.

I would like to address, in a fairly limited way, the increased funding for the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services care and protection services section. The need for significantly increased funding, it has been argued, reflects a substantially increased number of reports being made under the mandatory reporting requirements in the

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