Page 2907 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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I can understand why it happened initially—that no-one particularly wanted this heritage-listed building which obviously had constraints. But clearly it has become an issue. And so it seems, from what I can tell, that the only time we have actually had public consultation about the fate of the Fitters Workshop was in the committee inquiry. So it is somewhat disappointing, to put it mildly, that the government has seen fit to not agree with this.
There are other things I found really disturbing about this. I have had a lot of emails and conversations about it. I have to say that there are probably equal numbers from both sides—if “sides” is the word to use; I do not really want to put it that way. One of the things that quite a number of people have said to me is that they have opinions on it, and they were opinions which were different from the government’s opinion, but they did not want to say them publicly because they were dependent upon ACT government funding in one guise or another.
That is one of the most disappointing things in this whole debate. Maybe it is not disappointing; maybe it is educational for me. But it is certainly very disappointing to feel that some of our community believe that they cannot say publicly what they feel about issues. And this is in quite a number of areas of the community where they have said this. I find that very sad.
One of the things that I would like to do out of this motion—I am not sure how, but I will talk about this a bit later—is ensure that whatever solution we use is a long-term solution, not something where we have just got one side scoring points. It is really important that we have Assembly support, but also that we have the support of the government for whatever solution there is. There is no doubt that the government’s cooperation is needed to make whatever it is work.
I will now move on. My amendment is the best that I have been able to come forward with in terms of trying to think of some solution that will be a positive solution and bring things forward.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Le Couteur, as you have two amendments, you need leave to move them together.
MS LE COUTEUR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to move my amendments together.
Leave granted.
MS LE COUTEUR: I move:
(1) Insert new subparagraphs (1)(e) and (f):
“(e) no planning advice was presented to the Committee inquiry; and
(f) the DA for the Fitters’ Workshop is currently before ACAT and unlikely to be resolved during the 7th Assembly; and”.
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