Page 431 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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be one of the organisations that again benefit from the allocation of some of this money today.
We also have the community infrastructure grants and capacity building grants, and there is also the Community Inclusion Board in the grants through that process. So I do not think you can accuse this government of not responding to community organisations’ needs. I accept that we have not been able to meet all of the needs, but in every appropriation we try to do our best to support our non-government partners.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability and Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (9.35): Isn’t it amazing that in the context of a supplementary appropriation Mrs Dunne always manages to find that the glass is half empty. If you have a look in here, you might find a few things in the glass that are half full.
It is also interesting to note the litany of things on Mrs Dunne’s wish list. If she thinks that a supplementary appropriation, after people have lost an election, is all about us funding their election promises, I suggest that they have another think about the parliamentary process.
Mrs Dunne: No, it’s all about your missed opportunities, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: I wish fishing was this easy! All I have got to do is throw the line out with a worm on the end and in she comes.
I need to say thank you very much to a fellow member for Brindabella, Ms Bresnan, for drawing the attention of the house to the provision for the Tuggeranong 55 Plus Club. It is important because other areas of town have got a club for seniors and the Tuggeranong area does not, so I think this evens things up a little bit. It is important that I explain to you why it appears in this supplementary appropriation and not just in the budget one. It is because if we do the feasibility and the design between now and March or April, we can make provision for construction in the budget next year, so that from 1 July the money can be released to get on with the building of it.
If we wait until the budget next year before we do the feasibility and the design, construction will not start for another six months. If we do it now, we can actually get the construction and we can get that clubhouse built six months ahead of time, which is, I think, something that the valley needs. As Ms Bresnan quite correctly pointed out, when the commonwealth government sneezes, the Tuggeranong Valley gets the flu. We really need to keep infrastructure going in the Tuggeranong Valley, and I think this is a great incentive.
With the seniors card directory, it is about time that we updated it. It is now timely to do it. Somebody mentioned that single seniors do it tough. It might have been the glass half-empty mob. But it is important that we get this directory updated because Mr Smyth is going to need it fairly shortly. This will enable people to access those discounts which they will very much need between now and next year. It is the same story: if we update the thing we can get the jump on it six months into the future.
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