Page 3165 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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corporation will have access to the new site. There will probably be even longer delays in having commercial facilities available, and that is a shame.
I do observe that the advertisement refers to progress with this matter providing the ACT with a timely means of delivering low-cost budget tourism accommodation. It has not been particularly timely and it has certainly not been timely for the corporation, given the inordinate delays with this project. I think it about five—look how good I am speaking; it just makes the minutes race past. It is now about a quarter to four, members. Aren’t we lucky? But it has not been particularly timely, given the inordinate delays with the project—
Mr Barr: It is your best speech ever, Brendan.
MR SMYTH: It has only been going for about two hours at this stage; so not bad. That is an hour and 50—almost up to two hours—
Ms Gallagher: We have not got to your usual points yet.
MR SMYTH: And I have not got to the good points yet. So it is a very disappointing approach on the part of this government. I note that an expression of interest was anticipated sometime in June in relation to the types of accommodation. I am not aware of this having been released and I look forward to updates on its progress.
The final point on EPIC is, of course, the petrol station site. It is a key component to the overall strategy for EPIC, particularly in generating a strong stream of revenue. I am disappointed that there is no mention of the status of the petrol site in the budget papers and no clear answer from the corporation during the estimates hearings about this omission, but surprise, surprise! There was no suggestion that not mentioning it was because of commercially confidential reasons. But I would have thought that the corporation would be pressing on as fast as possible to get the site redeveloped to get that revenue stream back.
I note the second recommendation on EPIC is that they update the Assembly both on the redevelopment of the petrol site and on the development of the low cost accommodation. Again, there is a one-word response from the government: “agreed”.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure—Part 1.23—Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission—$515,000 (net cost of outputs), totalling $515,000.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (2.03 am): I will touch on two issues associated with the ICRC. The first relates to the two recommendations of the estimates committee report which the government has rejected. These recommendations call on the government to review the ICRC’s enabling legislation to ensure that it is clear as to the extent and balance between economic, social and environmental analysis when making its determinations.
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