Page 3467 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
usage variation. Griffith library was the only library to experience a real decline in transactions. Griffith is the least used of all libraries on Saturdays, although I expect a large crowd will attend the public meeting there next Saturday. In passing, I note, as I have said before, that Mr Pratt made inappropriate inquiries there last week as part of his bullying tactics. The second reason is cost. Griffith attracts the highest cost per individual loan. The average cost across the service is $1.74 and at Griffith the cost is $2.55.
Next I want to lay to rest a furphy that has sprung up in the community. It has been said that the site will be sold for redevelopment. I have not turned my mind to future uses of this site. When a site is vacated and it looks as though it may become surplus to government’s requirements, it is handed to the TAMS property group for management. The property group then commissions a strategic planning study, which includes community consultation on its future use. This could include occupation by other government agencies or not-for-profit community groups or sale to the private sector with caveats on its use—for example, the provision of older persons’ accommodation.
There is no connection between the value of the land and the decision to close the library. This is an important thing for those opposite to understand: there is no hypothecation of moneys to the library from any sale or rentals. At a time when this government’s policy of the ACT living within its means has been clearly articulated, it is evident that the hard decision to close Griffith library is necessary to enable the library service to put resources where they are most needed and deliver the best value for money.
What is important is not so much that a particular library remains open but that the Stanhope government remains committed to providing first-class services to the community. It is committed to ensuring that our public library facility, services and programs are sustainable and spread as widely as our limited resources permit. As I said in question time, I respect the anguish that people in the southern Canberra suburbs of Narrabundah and Griffith are experiencing at the moment. I understand the anguish that they are experiencing in the moment.
At the end of the day the government have to provide as good a service across the whole of Canberra as we can possibly afford. We have sunk an enormous number of millions of dollars into the systems across the town. What this project review has revealed is that we should be looking at libraries in town centres and group centres, and that is exactly what this government is doing. We are not suggesting for a second that we should set one citizen against another, but I make the passing observation that the people of Weston Creek do not have a library—and there are 30,000 of them—and the people in Griffith, in a very small shopping centre, do.
We are not talking about taking off one and giving to the other. What we are talking about is taking Griffith library away and spreading those resources right across the whole of Canberra. We know that the clientele of Griffith are also clientele of many other libraries. The person, for example, in Evatt actually travels past two libraries to get to Griffith and could easily go to the other two libraries. This is the way to be equitable about this. As I have said, we have soaked a lot of resources, a lot of money
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .