Page 741 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 26 February 2013
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MADAM SPEAKER: No, he does not insist. You insist on replying.
MS GALLAGHER: Let us just remember the Liberal Party has never supported this project. Remember how you made all that fuss about a winery being close to it and all the issues around it.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: Yes, we can go through this; absolutely. But the government have been committed to this project. We have been working with the rural lessees and the Indigenous community here to get the model right. Yes, it has been delayed. It has been delayed longer than I would have liked, but there have been complexities in the arguments around the design of this building. There is not unanimous support from the rural lessees around having the building out there. There still is not. I was hoping to have agreement on that and there is not. There have been delays with finalising the technical aspects of the development application. My understanding is that is in its final stages and it will be going out for community consultation soon. This is for the long haul. This is to actually build a bush healing farm for the Indigenous community who have way too—
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: This is the only government that has prioritised a service like this, Mr Smyth. It is the only one that has stood up and said that it wants to provide a different type of care for Indigenous people who are going through alcohol and drug addiction and provide them with a connection to their country. That connection to their country does not come without some concern from rural lessees. We are trying to work through that. We have been trying to work through that. My hope is that this project could be unanimously supported in the Assembly and in the community. I am not sure we will be able to deliver that, but this government is committed to the project. The development application will proceed. The building of this building will proceed.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Wall.
MR WALL: Minister, what is the physical completion date for this facility, and can you guarantee that it will be delivered on time?
MS GALLAGHER: It is subject to the planning processes, which are independent of government. There is a process to go through. The development application will be notified—that is my understanding—in the next few weeks. Then it will kick off a planning process which I do not preside over. But what I can say is that, at the conclusion of that, the design is done, the consultations are done and we will get on with building this facility. And we are the only government that would do so.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Jones.
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