Page 2118 - Week 06 - Thursday, 26 June 2008
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The Canberra Theatre feasibility study is a good and much-needed initiative, and that creates opportunities for bringing our major entertainment facilities into the 21st century. I would also commend a very detailed Assembly report done in the First Assembly by the arts and heritage committee, which did look at a number of these things too. There is no point for us to reinvent the wheel. I assume that time has moved on in the last 20 years, but there are some good points which would be useful for people to look at.
I hope, perhaps in vain, that this government has learned lessons from past experience, such as the GDE, the gas-fired power station, the arboretum, the prison, the Grassby statue, the Belconnen busway and others. I think the number one lesson this government has to learn is to ensure that it brings the community along with it, that it consults with relevant stakeholders to reach a shared solution.
That is very important in the arts. That is something that perhaps has not been done certainly in relation to the public art program, especially two items of so-called art on the GDE. The metal structure could be positively dangerous and very few people I have spoken to appreciate that expenditure and that as an artwork.
On the Belconnen Arts Centre: I suppose I have to applaud at least the funding for stage 1. It is a commitment that goes back, I think, to the previous Liberal government. It has been a long time in coming. It was something this government, under the previous minister, Bill Wood, did finally do some work on. Of course it will be a great boost for local arts in Belconnen when it is completed. But there is potential for the Belconnen Arts Centre to emulate the great success story that is the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, run by Evol McLeod who, I note, was awarded an OAM in the recent Queen’s birthday honours.
But the government has once again fallen short. There is no funding or indeed any commitment whatever in the budget for stage 2. I find that quite extraordinary. There is no guarantee from this government that stage 2 will ever be delivered. That will include the theatre and essential parts of this centre which will put it at least on a par with Tuggeranong. It is the very least, I think, the people of North Canberra and Belconnen deserve.
Mrs Dunne: There are always Cinderellas.
MR STEFANIAK: Indeed. All the government can say is that the estimated cost for stage 2 is $15 million. This is beginning to look a little bit like a half-delivered GDE and is another blow to the people of Belconnen and Gungahlin delivered by this government. I am amazed why they could not have, in the outyears, a commitment to complete stage 2 of what will be a very fine arts centre, if it is completed. But we do not want half an arts centre, just like we do not want half a road, as we have with the GDE.
In the short time left to me, I will touch on industrial relations. I note there are a couple of extra inspectors for WorkCover, and that is good. However, it is very hard for WorkCover to compete with the private sector. In the private sector, an inspector can actually get somewhere between $120,000 and $150,000. That is for starters.
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