Page 2479 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 1 July 2008
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mistake as to actually use as an example for how the government does not consult which shows the exemplary way in which ACTPLA, in this particular instance, consulted with the relevant potentially affected community.
Mr Barr: There are five references to the roundabout in the master plan there. Table that.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr.
MR STANHOPE: We will table these documents later. There are five references, the Minister for Planning tells me. It is actually raised no fewer than five times in the proposed master plan. This is the example that illustrates how poorly we consult! In the estimation of Mr Stefaniak and the Liberal Party, this is the example which goes to the matter of public importance—a failure of consultation. If the truth be known, it is actually a wonderful example or explanation or illustration of exactly how deeply the government consulted in relation to the roundabout, the subject of Mr Stefaniak’s erroneous understanding, false press release and false commentary, including on WIN television last night.
Mr Stefaniak, you make the case: two rounds of community consultation, two public information sessions; advertisements in the Chronicle; advertisements in the Canberra Times; a direct letterbox drop; 220 to 250 people attending at the first meeting at Macgregor; 150 to 200 members of the community attending the second meeting at the Kippax library; every aspect of the proposal, including the roundabout, being fully disclosed, fully debated and fully discussed; and enormous community feedback being received. As you said in your presentation, Mr Stefaniak, it may be that there were some residents more significantly affected than others and who have a particular concern about a particular development. I do not dispute or deny that. But it is wrong to suggest that there was no consultation, that people were taken by surprise, that there was no forewarning. What more do you want than advertisements in the local press? What more do you want than public meetings that are open to the media at which both the ABC and WIN television attend and broadcast commentary from the community?
There was a high level of openness in relation to plans; there were maps; there were discussions; there was specific mention of this particular issue. I almost need to say or explain no more. I can give hundreds of examples of the level of detailed consultation that was undertaken. But Mr Stefaniak makes the case so superbly by using as an example something that is completely concocted and completely false. It is an example of how well we consult and of the extent to which our agencies go to to consult in relation to something such as the roundabout, the subject of his concern.
As I recall, for the last election campaign, the theme song backing for the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr Smyth, as he strode onto the stage to present the Liberal Party’s campaign speech was Elvis Presley singing A Little Less Conversation. What was the campaign theme of the Liberal Party before the last election? The campaign theme of the Liberal Party before the last election was “stop talking and get on with it”. They followed through the theme with Mr Smyth striding onto the stage to the sound of Elvis Presley singing A Little Less Conversation.
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