Page 809 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
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This motion asks a number of things: for the government to review the facilities available, to establish a plan for the development of facilities over the next four years to meet community needs, to build a pool, and report back to the Assembly. That should be largely uncontroversial. If the government are going to claim to be reconnecting with these people whom they have lost, who have clearly walked away from them, I would say to them that the people of Tuggeranong walked away from Labor not because of their own desires; they did it because Labor have walked away from them. That is why they have walked away from them.
This used to be an area that the Labor Party took for granted. In fact it has been an area they took for granted. They believed that Tuggeranong was their area, that they would always get the support in Tuggeranong, that they did not really have to deliver anything. And they have been sent a very clear message. As I said earlier, if the Labor Party think this is about personalities then they will continue to neglect the people of Tuggeranong. This is about policies. This is about delivery of services. This is about a government that actually cares for these people. The people of Tuggeranong have given the absolutely clearest message that that is not what they are getting from this government.
As I said, for senior Labor figures to express shock and horror that the Liberal Party can pull a very strong vote in a place like Richardson shows that they still do not get it. It shows that they take these people for granted. I think that they should now take on board this motion and support this motion. They should support at least the calls for action, and commit to actually taking this action. I think that would be important for the people of south Tuggeranong. I think the people of south Tuggeranong would welcome that. I think that they would say that that is the government demonstrating that they will now look to serve the community, whether they voted for them or not. Whether they voted for them or not, they will look to still deliver for those people.
I commend the motion to the Assembly, and I commend better facilities for the people of Tuggeranong, and particularly in this case for the people of the Lanyon valley.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (11.46): I move:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes that:
(a) the Parliamentary Agreement between ACT Labor and the Greens commits the Government to ‘Undertake a community needs analysis of government services in southern Tuggeranong, including a feasibility study for a library in Lanyon’;
(b) the people of Lanyon Valley have a reasonable expectation that those they elect to represent them will stay the course for their term of office; and
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