Page 1172 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
It is not comparing apples with apples. The $4.7 million costing that the consultants came up with only covered drainage, earth works, water services, the track and long jump pits, hammer and discus cages—they are already there, anyway—and floodlighting. There is no allowance for any pavilion restoration or new building, a grandstand or amenities work, and there is no allowance for any works to existing roads or car parks.
Let me go through a number of salient points and time lines surrounding this particular issue. In July last year Minister Barr announced $4.5 million in funding for site selection and construction funding for a synthetic track on the south side of Canberra. In August senior officials from ACT little athletics met with Cardno, the consultancy firm. That is presumably when the association learned for the first time just how narrow a focus the government had decided on. The association’s own newsletter at the time states:
Cardno, a civil engineering company, have been engaged by ACT Government Sport and Recreation Services to … look at the existing south side grass athletics tracks … Lots of questions were asked and it was noted that the Government has a considerable backlog of capital programs for sport. Whilst the preferred position would be for the location of a new IAAF track at Stromlo—
Mr Barr, this is from the association’s newsletter—
this does not appear high on the Government agenda at the moment.
I guess just to underline that, it did not appear on the government’s agenda at all. In September Athletics ACT also met with Cardno, and they also learned that options such as Deakin or greenfield sites such as Stromlo were not under consideration. Both they and the ACT Little Athletics Association advised the consultants that Stromlo remained their preferred option and that Woden was and would remain unsuitable.
In October, just after the election, the government received the consultants’ report. It is obvious for anyone who might have followed this that the report was going to disappoint. It had to. The government’s own narrow focus was designed to deliver just one result. Even the consultant could not deliver any glowing recommendation. Their choice was the least worst option. I quote from the recommendation:
Of the nominated sites investigated within this report—that is Banks oval, Calwell District Playing Fields, Chapman Neighbourhood Oval, Kambah District Playing Fields and Woden Enclosed Oval—Woden Park is recommended for the proposed upgrade to an IAAF compliant track and field facility, despite its various disadvantages.
So six months ago the government were well aware that they had promised to deliver a new synthetic track to complement and be somewhat equivalent to the AIS athletics track.
Mr Barr: Not to be equivalent.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video