Page 764 - Week 02 - Thursday, 12 February 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The issue around the Causeway and the Eastlake area is, in fact, a planning matter. The community consultation process is being conducted by ACTPLA and being assisted by officers of my department.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Coe?
MR COE: Minister, given that there are more than 45 public housing dwellings in the Causeway who are all very anxious about their future, will you attend the next public meeting on 19 February given that you have failed to attend any meetings prior to this?
MR HARGREAVES: I reject the second part of Mr Coe’s question.
Mr Coe: There aren’t more than 45 dwellings?
MR HARGREAVES: I wish you would not talk to yourself. There is a bit of a distraction when you talk to yourself.
I have not actually been invited to any of the meetings down there. So to suggest that I have refused to go to any meetings is, in fact, spurious and mischievous, I believe. I have not been invited to that one. I have not examined my diary to see whether or not the 19th is appropriate.
I reiterate for the benefit of the Assembly that the consultation process is a planning process. It is being conducted by ACTPLA on behalf of the government. Officers of Housing ACT have been in contact with residents at the Causeway quite significantly, I believe, and have been assisting in the consultation process.
At this stage of the game I have not actually—to my knowledge, anyway—seen any correspondence with me from individuals, and I never refuse to engage with people when they contact my office. I do not do that. It is not the way I work. Mr Coe, I am afraid, has got it wrong again. I am going to go back and trawl through the Hansard to see whether Mrs Burke asked exactly the same question. I expect she did.
Stanhope government
MS PORTER: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, today marks 100 days since the government took office. Could you inform the Assembly of some of the progress the government has made during those 100 days in the areas that are of greatest importance to the Canberra community?
MR STANHOPE: I thank Ms Porter for the question. I am sure we all agree that while at one level there is a certain artificiality about anniversaries—other than perhaps some personal anniversaries—at another level most of us who take our jobs seriously like to measure our progress against a starting point. For governments, an obvious starting point is the day they take office, and 100 days is something of a traditional number at which to take stock.
The government took office on 5 November with some very specific priorities and some very serious things to provide to this community. I would like to take the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .