Page 3381 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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community and reflect broader transport and regional objectives. Preparation of the master plan has specifically included a range of discussions with representatives and members of the Australian Railway Historical Society to ensure that their input is considered in the planning for rail services and to ensure that all possible options are identified for its long-term operation.
In the interim, the government has committed to providing the society with a 10-year lease over its existing site to ensure immediate tenure, while retaining sufficient flexibility for the territory to progress with further planning and development of the area. During this time, the government will continue its investigation of possible options for longer-term operations through the railway master plan process. When the results of those studies and projects are available, we will have a clearer picture of how the development of East Lake will progress, along with how we can best meet the operational needs of the rail services and the Railway Historical Society.
The motion which Mr Gentleman has moved today serves the very useful purpose of reinforcing the government’s commitment to ensuring that the long-term needs, viability and sustainability of the Railway Historical Society are being met. It is uppermost in the government’s mind and thinking. I was very pleased that the motion was moved by Mr Gentleman, in that it has an appropriate purpose in reinforcing the position that the government has adopted in relation to East Lake—the planning for that area, which I believe to be reasonable and responsible, and the development of a master plan that takes into account the possible future use of the railway in that precinct, without, at this stage, pre-empting the ultimate outcome of that master plan and the work that ACTPLA is doing, which has embraced the historical society and its needs. I believe it is appropriate that Mr Gentleman, in his motion, calls on the ACT government—and the government is more than happy to respond to this call—to investigate ways to ensure the future of the Australian Railway Historical Society and to investigate the provision of financial assistance regarding any possible relocation.
It is appropriate and reasonable that the historical society have that quite explicit understanding of a potential outcome of the master plan study that is being undertaken at East Lake and which involves the rail line, the rail station and, indeed, the Australian Railway Historical Society, to give them a level of comfort. I cannot, at this stage, foreshadow what the master planning process might throw up, but one of the outcomes of that exercise may very well be a proposal to move Kingston railway station, as has been mooted, to, say, Fyshwick, a couple of kilometres down the line. In the context of rail in the ACT, and what we imagine the future of rail and its dispersal throughout the ACT might be, which is very limited indeed, that is, at face value, a potentially reasonable outcome of the master planning study, which would, of course, impact on the historical society. I am pleased that, through this motion, the ACT government has an opportunity to reiterate that it would, subject to those scenarios perhaps coming to fruition or being played out, certainly look at the level of support which the historical society would require, were its tenure at Kingston to be affected.
That is the point of paragraph (3) (a) of Mr Gentleman’s motion, which Dr Foskey in her amendment proposed should be removed, just as she proposed the removal of paragraph (3) (b), which provides that the ACT government be called upon to ensure
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