Page 2720 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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I am pleased to see simply a one-word answer: “agreed”. It is a shame all the others could not have been written so succinctly.
Recommendation 69, I think, is particularly interesting. We had some discussion about the arboretum and how we managed to get a $20 million gift. We had conflicting evidence as to how much input the government had had. I think that the government tried to leave the committee with the impression that the federal government—(Second speaking period taken.)
I need to read the relevant paragraph:
The Committee is most concerned about the advice which was provided by the Government on the history of the provision of a $20 million ‘gift’ to the Arboretum. In response to extensive questioning, the Chief Minister and advisers all denied that there had been any involvement by the ACT in the decision relating to the $20 million.
In effect, we had a member of the public service saying: “No, we had not provided any advice; we had not done any work. The federal government came up with this decision on their own.” But apparently that is not true. Recommendation 69 states:
The committee recommends that the ACT Government provides a full account of negotiations on the history leading up to the provision of a $20 million ‘gift’ to the Arboretum to the ACT Legislative Assembly by the last sitting day in August 2011.
The response is “noted”. It does go on then to say:
The Department of Land and Property Services provided the former Chief Minister and the Chair of National Arboretum with background information and costings on various components of the master plan for the National Arboretum. This information was provided in the context of ongoing discussions between the Territory and the Commonwealth on possible Commonwealth involvement in the Centenary of Canberra celebrations in 2013. The Prime Minister announced the $20 million gift to the National Arboretum Canberra at a tree planting ceremony on 19 April 2011, and this was subsequently confirmed in the 2011-12 Commonwealth Budget.
In summary, the government of the day asked for a donation to the arboretum and that is what they got. The people of Canberra were not brought into their confidence; the Assembly certainly was not brought into their confidence. There was no discussion about alternatives. Whether you like the arboretum or not, what the federal government have given us is $20 million for the arboretum; end of story.
I can think of many more useful things that the federal government could have donated money to—in particular, for instance, let us say the Australia forum. But what we were told is not correct. There should actually be an apology for the committee being misled on the vital issue of this $20 million. We also asked for the risk assessment on the arboretum. I note that that is also noted.
Recommendation 71 is about the Loxton report, and it states:
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