Page 996 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2012
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Happily, since those times Actew has become accommodating and candid in its briefings on the progress of the project, and for that we are grateful. My colleagues and I have been treated most hospitably by Actew at briefings, both at Actew Corporation and on-site briefings of the major water projects. We are grateful, too, for Actew’s commitment to the project and the progress that has been made. It is without doubt a substantial and impressive engineering feat.
If I may be permitted a pun, on 26 March 2006 the former Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, tried to throw cold water on the whole idea of water security. Mr Stanhope told the Assembly—I have quoted this often; it is almost graven in my memory:
… it may be that we do not need to think again about whether or not we will ever need a dam. Perhaps we will in 30 years time, perhaps longer and perhaps never.
Mr Coe: Wisdom.
MRS DUNNE: It was great wisdom from Jon Stanhope, and it was great wisdom from Jon Stanhope that was touched on by the leader writer of the Sunday Canberra Times a couple of weeks ago, because that is the principal cause of the great cost blow-outs.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I put it to you that in making that statement Mr Stanhope was not enunciating government policy. I suggest it was one of those impetuous off-the-cuff comments to try and dispel the standing policy of the Canberra Liberals at the time, and the consistent policy, that Canberra needed to have more water storage capacity. That comment, much like the half-dozen words scribbled on the top of a letter from Megalo Print Studio + Gallery asking for the Fitters Workshop, was sufficient to throw into disarray any vision or forward planning for additional water storage. The result of that comment was long delays in planning the project and the development process and the cost increase of over 200 per cent for Canberrans. The people of Canberra have to pay for that cost, and they can thank Mr Stanhope and ACT Labor for the privilege.
Madam Deputy Speaker, you will recall that the ACT had a major rain event in early March. This event caused considerable damage and flooding in and around the territory, including at the Cotter Dam construction site. As has been said to us on a number of occasions, the greatest enemy of a dam construction is rain. But even before that event it was apparent that the cost of the construction of the enlarged Cotter Dam was going to exceed the budget of $363 million. There was some intimation by Actew officials about this in the media and it was quite clear to my colleagues and me that we were being softened up for an increase. The rain event and consequent flooding have exacerbated that even more.
So it is time for the government to learn from Actew’s contemporary attitude and to be more up-front with the people of Canberra. It is time for this government to be more open and transparent, and it is time for the shareholders in Actew Corporation to act like shareholders and to act on behalf of the people of the ACT for whom they
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