Page 20 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 December 2008
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The ACT Government has a number of facilities underway that will bring more ACT Government staff to the Gungahlin Town Centre. Examples include:
• the construction of a large Government Health Centre between 2009 and 2011 (land immediately to the north of Gungahlin Square has been shortlisted as the most likely location); and
• the construction between now and 2010 of a Government Secondary College Precinct, including an expanded Town Library and Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) centre, immediately south of the Raiders Club.
The Government has also engaged a marketing agent who is actively promoting sites in the Town Centre. The first success has been the recent sale of four sites for small offices. These will suit smaller businesses and professionals such as Solicitors and Doctors.
Attracting Federal Offices to the Gungahlin Town Centre is very difficult for the ACT Government due to changes in Federal Government policy. The Federal Government established offices in the other Town Centres by directing its Departments where to locate. Since the settlement of Gungahlin, Departments now decide their own locations and they have not chosen Gungahlin.
With a new Federal Government in place, I have been actively lobbying for offices in Gungahlin and recently met with the Federal Finance Minister, Mr Lindsay Tanner MP, to promote the benefits of Gungahlin as an office location.
The recent Federal Parliamentary inquiry into the role of the National Capital Authority also called for work to be done at the Federal level on a policy to govern future locations of Commonwealth Government agencies in Canberra.
I urge the petitioners to also seek action from the Federal Government.
By Mr Hargreaves, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, (Sixth Assembly), dated 30 September 2008, in response to petitions lodged by Mr Mulcahy (Sixth Assembly) on 7, 19 and 26 August 2008 concerning the Gungahlin Drive extension.
The terms of the response will be recorded in Hansard.
Gungahlin Drive extension
The response read as follows:
REGARDING: THE RECENTLY COMPLETED GUNGAHLIN DRIVE EXTENSION
The ACT Government notes the petitions submitted by the petitioners, tabled by Mr Richard Mulcahy MLA on 7, 18, 26 August 2008 and makes the following comments:
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