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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Thursday, 19 August 2004) . . Page.. 3948 ..

that need to be answered. I have to put forward my own question, and that is: over the last five years, between successive governments, why haven’t these questions actually been answered? Why have we just continued to hear a lot of talk from a lot of boys? I have a feeling that what we will see is just more talking.

Everybody has said—not everybody, but most people in this place—that they are committed to seeing a multi-purpose motor sport facility, or at the least a dragway, being built in the ACT and we are all prepared to commit to it. But we keep finding obstacles in our way that are stopping that commitment taking place. It appears we have a can-not government, not a can-do government. I completely understand the position that the government is currently in. There are a lot of considerations that need to be taken into account, a lot of issues that need to be worked through.

So why are we having this discussion again? I thought it was quite clear at the beginning of this, the Fifth Assembly, that people were willing to work towards a motor sport facility. I thought it was quite clear in the Fourth Assembly that people were quite willing to work this forward. So I lay the question at both of your feet: why has nothing progressed?

The Chief Minister spoke yesterday of Canberra booming along. For a city that is supposedly booming, we are seeing little in the way of developing infrastructure and diverse entertainment options. And when the government comes clean on its commitment to building a motor sport facility, perhaps the government’s claim of a booming Canberra will have a greater ring of truth and we will actually see some can-do out of this government.

MR PRATT (4.16): Mr Speaker, I would like to speak to Mr Stefaniak’s motion to support a motor sport facility, including a dragway, for the ACT and to get on with committing to that as soon as possible. I mean committing rather than just talking about it. Mr Speaker, as you would know, the Liberal Party supports the development of a dragway and a motor sport facility in the ACT. The Liberals have been unequivocal in these last three years and, unlike the government, we are firmly committed to building a dragway.

Mr Speaker, to build a full motor sport facility, including a dragway, in Majura would allow motor sport enthusiasts and the youth of Canberra to come together in a suitable location and enjoy the facility. And it is the youth issue that I want to particularly address today, relevant to our desire and our commitment to build the dragway. From a youth perspective, there is so much more that needs to be done in the ACT in the shape of interventionist programs to both support and encourage our youth. The dragway could play a major role in this endeavour.

I have issued media releases in the past—and I recall one on 27 August 2003—specifically calling on the government to direct more attention to juvenile crime in the ACT, following a spate of car thefts in the Belconnen area then. I have regularly called for the provision of facilities to divert youth with their cars away from city and suburban streets and away from conducting burnouts and other illegal meets in public places. The police have often commented that the development of amenities to channel the youthful exuberances of those with cars, and all those who are friends of those with cars, away

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