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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Wednesday, 30 June 2004) . . Page.. 3036 ..

One of the issues that Mr Hargreaves has championed is the need for an expansion of the economic base of Tuggeranong and the Tuggeranong Valley. Mr Hargreaves has vigorously pursued the need for more employment opportunities in Tuggeranong for the people of Tuggeranong.

It is an issue of interest to all members of this place in terms of their respective electorates: the need for employment to be based around the town centres of the respective regions of Canberra. Mr Hargreaves has vigorously pursued this issue in the time that he has been a member of the Assembly. I am sure that he will continue to push—as any dedicated member of the Assembly should—the specific directives of those people whom he, as a member of the Assembly, directly represents. I commend him for that. I commend Mr Hargreaves for his energy, enthusiasm and commitment to his electors.

In that context, Mr Hargreaves has raised questions with me, the Treasurer and the Minister for Planning around opportunities for enhancing the economy and the employment base of Tuggeranong. He has some issues in relation to the extent to which planning—the spatial plan in particular—may not produce the opportunities in the Tuggeranong town square to the degree that he, as a dedicated, and perhaps parochial, member for Tuggeranong—I do not blame him for that—might hope for. And I accept that. I am sure it is good.

Mr Smyth: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question was not whether Mr Hargreaves is a good or parochial or the best member for Tuggeranong; the question is: is Mr Hargreaves right in saying that the Canberra plan has failed Tuggeranong?

MR SPEAKER: Come to the point of the question, Chief Minister.

MR STANHOPE: Thank you Mr Speaker; I will. I conclude my comments. The people of Tuggeranong recognise and respect the fact that, in Mr Hargreaves, they have a member who is dedicated to them, who listens to them.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Come to the point of the question, please, Chief Minister.

MR STANHOPE: Thank you Mr Speaker; I will. They draw a real and obvious comparison with the flim-flam that they get from the Leader of the Opposition. The Canberra plan is a plan for all of Canberra, just as this is a government for all the people of Canberra. Mr Hargreaves acknowledges that and he knows it. He is committed to the Canberra plan. He is committed to all those aspects of the social plan, which is part of the Canberra plan. This is a real commitment by this government to all the people of Canberra, including the disadvantaged, those on the edge, those who battle, and those who need the assistance of a caring and inclusive community.

It is the sort of community to which this government is dedicated to delivering; it is what this government is all about. It is a government for everybody in this town. We are delivering that through the Canberra plan. Mr Hargreaves, as a dedicated representative of the people of Tuggeranong, is as committed to that as all of us.

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