Page 3323 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013

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Mr Rattenbury’s concerns are more broadly recorded, perhaps. He does not like the politics being put into the planning process. But sometimes politics have to come into the planning process because we in this place have to make decisions. We have to say, “No, that is a bad call.” We will stand up and we will say that it is a bad call. Mr Rattenbury, through his amendment, is basically taking away the decision of the minister and of this place.

The unintended consequence of Mr Rattenbury’s amendment is that if the DA went through the process and ultimately it was decided that it was going to be on the doorstep of Uriarra, the minister would not be able to stop that, even if he wanted to. The unintended consequence of what Mr Rattenbury is doing is actually taking away the power of this place and the power of the minister to stop it if he wants to. That is unacceptable. The whole point of this motion, the whole reason that the residents of Uriarra are here today, is to stop this solar farm being built on their doorstep. That is why we are here. We will not be supporting Mr Rattenbury’s amendment because all it does is throw further confusion into the issues that we have today.

What I call on this Assembly to do today—Mr Rattenbury and Mr Corbell—is to say that it is perfectly reasonable for the people of Uriarra to say that this solar farm should not be built on their doorstep. I think that is a perfectly reasonable thing to say. It is not a judgement on solar. Many of the comments today from Mr Rattenbury and Mr Corbell were about carbon emissions and solar more broadly. It is not a debate about that. I am sure many of the people of Uriarra would support the solar farm more broadly. It is not a debate about that. It is a debate about whether this should be built on their doorstep, and clearly it should not.

The people of Uriarra are right. Mr Wall is right. We are with the people of Uriarra. We will support what they are saying. We will reject Mr Rattenbury’s attempt to walk both sides of the fence and throw further confusion into this problem. Despite the fact that the Labor Party and the Greens will not stand up to make sure that a right decision is made in this place, Mr Wall and the rest of the Canberra Liberals will continue to advocate that the solar farm not be built on the doorstep of Uriarra, because it is a bad decision and it is going to have a big impact on people’s lives. The failure to support this motion today is going to drag this issue on and cause further disquiet and distress for the people who live in Uriarra. They deserve better from the government and from the Greens.

Question put:

That Mr Coe’s amendment to Mr Rattenbury’s proposed amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the negative.

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