Page 2286 - Week 06 - Friday, 27 June 2008
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to be daylight between him and the proponent because the government was 100 per cent behind this project. The proponent has come to this government and said: “We want to do something good in the ACT. How do we go about it?” The government have waltzed them through a minefield. That is what they have done. They have not got the site that they wanted. The community has not got the consultation that it deserved.
The ACT will not get the economic benefit from this project if it falters because the government has let the proponent down. At the same time the Assembly has not got the answers that it deserves to questions. Quite clearly, the Chief Minister is willing to give them to the press but he is not willing to give them to the Assembly. And that is what is wrong. It is the level of arrogance that this Chief Minister wears as he goes about trying to subvert what is going on in the ACT. The great shame of this is that the Chief Minister has had seven years in which to diversify the economic base of the ACT and, but for this project, he has failed. He has absolutely failed. To have the minister sit there and preach to other members of this place about their responsibilities is just appalling.
Minister, will you now rise and guarantee that you will not use the call-in power? Will you do it? Will you rise and tell the community, that is asking you not to use the call-in power, whether you will do it? Will you do it?
Mr Barr: No, the community has not made any such call.
MR SMYTH: “The community is not making such a call,” the minister says. If he comes down to Chisholm shops, to Kambah shops, to Calwell shops, to Fadden shops or to Gowrie shops in the morning, I will introduce him to people who would like to ask him the question: will you not use your call-in power? I am happy to arrange for as many people as you want to be there in the morning so that you can tell them how this wonderful new process of yours works, and how the wonderful old process works—indeed, how the process that your government has lorded over for seven years works. The people are simply saying that they want a fair go and they want to be heard. They are not; and they do not feel like they are.
I have letters from constituents who have said they moved to Macarthur for specific reasons—because of its location, because of the way it has been designed, the attributes of the suburb and the closeness to the horse paddocks. They told me that they rang ACTPLA, minister, to find out what was intended for that block and they were told that nothing was going on in that block. It is no wonder they are gun-shy of this government, because they get one piece of advice from one arm of the government and they get different advice from a different arm of the government.
There are numerous blocks in Hume that are zoned “industrial” where this facility could go, but they were never offered. It is not just 7 of 21; there are a number of blocks there where this could go, which used to be horse paddocks, but which the government has now resumed. There is no doubt that one can only conclude that the government is after the money. It is willing and prepared to put profits before the long-term health benefits and lifestyle of the people of that part of Canberra. It is as simple as that, and that is how people feel. They have felt neglected and ignored over
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