Page 1461 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
should, however, be clear that this government has just thrown taxpayers’ money at this project without considering whether a more efficient and effective way of establishing childcare centres could be found.
The Canberra Liberals understand that small businesses are the backbone of the Canberra economy, and we are committed to supporting their potential to succeed. There is clearly a market for childcare services in Weston Creek and we should be supporting a community group or business to get into this market, not pushing them out by building an expensive government centre. I am sure that there are a number of businesses that would appreciate the development opportunity to establish a centre in Holder. In fact, I was approached by one such business when I was in Woden late last year. They raised exactly this point.
Mrs Dunne’s motion today holds the government to account by forcing them to be open and transparent about this process. The motion calls on the government to report to the Assembly by 1 May 2012 on whether it is feasible for there to be other means of fulfilling the childcare needs in the community. Mrs Dunne’s motion calls for the Labor government to undertake a process that should have been considered before funding was allocated. I commend Mrs Dunne for holding the government to account on childcare in the ACT.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (5.05), in reply: This has turned out somewhat predictably. You could expect that the minister would come in here late, all guns blazing, not having listened to what had been said, and present her prepared text without reference to what people may have said in the debate. It would be useful if her staff could get a bit more organised and perhaps anticipate what people might say in the debate so that she can make a meaningful contribution.
This minister just does not get it. This is all about the government and how they cannot get things done. Let us look at the promise. At the last election Stanhope Labor, now Gallagher Labor, promised to build two childcare centres, one north and one south, for $4 million. We are most of the way through the term; we are about to approach the last budget before the next election. What they have so far allocated is money for one childcare centre, at $7.5 million. This is pretty simple arithmetic. They promised two for four and we are getting one for 7½—if they ever manage to build it. They cannot get it done.
Minister Burch glossed over the issues about parking, the battleaxe block and the driveway to the battleaxe block. She said, “If Communities@Work does not want the battleaxe block, so be it or we will shift the parking onto the site.” Madam Deputy Speaker, have a look at the development application—the development application which is supposedly going to be signed off next week—and see where on the site, if they have to come back and do a variation, they will fit the necessary parking spaces on the Dixon Drive block. It is not possible, if you look at the development application and the plans for the layout of the block, to fit parking spaces on it.
That is why they have tried to do it on the battleaxe block, which has created problems for the potential lessee of the battleaxe block behind it. And that is why, according to Communities@Work last week, the executive director of the Community
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video