Page 1003 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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of ease of access. Business people said repeatedly that they had people who came to their centre because there was easy access and there were appropriate amounts of parking; it made it easier for people to do business.
Mr Smyth: Like they used to go to Griffith library for.
MRS DUNNE: Yes. But really what it boils down to is that business owners at the Hawker centre would love to be able to talk to the government about all of the things that they raised with me. There are business owners at the Hawker group centre who have told me that they have not had so much as a phone call from a government official about the proposed auction of block 8, section 34—not even to tell them that a sign had been erected.
Some have told me that they were visited sometime last year when an official asked some members of the business fraternity there to indicate what was their quietest business day. They indicated that usually Thursday in a pay week was their quietest business day. When one of the shop owners asked, “Why do you want to know that?” they said that they were told by the official—and I do not know who this person was; no-one can identify which agency they came from—that they wanted to undertake a parking study on just such a day. I do not think that this is appropriate consultation, and neither do the businesses, business owners, business operators and operators of community organisations at the Hawker group centre.
What is the advice and opinions of business owners given to me in my consultation as to the impact of development of block 8, section 34? I emphasise that this is not an exhaustive consultation; it involved the amount of time that I could take out over a couple of afternoons to talk to people.
Mr Speaker, it will come as no surprise to you or to me, but it is probably news to the government, that they do not consider planting a sign in the ground as sufficient consultation. The advice and opinion of business owners is that development on block 8, section 34 could result in congestion, limited parking, customer frustration and resultant adverse impacts on their business. Already there are longstanding business owners at the Hawker group centre who are considering shutting up shop and moving elsewhere. I think that that would be premature.
It needs to be said that, to a man and a woman, I was told by business owners that they were not opposed to further development—in fact, that they welcomed it—but they wanted to be part of the conversation about how their group centre should develop.
There are essentially two vacant blocks of land at the Hawker shops which have not been sold by the government. These are the final pieces in the puzzle, so to speak. As part of putting those final pieces in place, the people who live, work, make their money and provide employment at that shopping centre want to be part of the conversation.
The advice and opinion of business owners at Hawker are that limited parking might limit the scope of the local church to hold large weddings and funerals and that it
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