Page 2053 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker, this is not really a point of order, but I will point out that Mr Rattenbury interjected immediately when Mr Doszpot spoke. So if there is going to be some level of interjection, it needs to be consistent.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, generally speaking this debate has been conducted in a general amount of silence, and I am not going to be lenient because somebody else interjected on another occasion. Tit for tat—
MR RATTENBURY: You have lost the plot, Steve. You have lost the plot.
MADAM SPEAKER: Sit down, Mr Rattenbury! You more than anybody in this place should know the forms. When I am dealing with a point of order, you sit down. If you have an issue to raise with the conduct of a member, you raise it through a point of order. Stop the clock, please.
I am not in the business of allowing tit-for-tat interjections. I have called Mr Doszpot to order and I expect he will comply with that. Do you have something to say, Mr Rattenbury? Do you have a point of order for me?
MR RATTENBURY: No, I just wish to continue.
MADAM SPEAKER: Okay. The question is that Mr Barr’s amendment to Mr Doszpot’s motion be agreed to. Mr Rattenbury.
MR RATTENBURY: Madam Speaker, as I have the floor, I will now apologise. I was not meaning to undermine you or interfere in your proceedings. I was just so gobsmacked by Mr Doszpot’s rudeness that I did have some loss of focus on the rules and forms of the place.
I am aware of the nature of the community’s concerns about the development. A number of constituents have written to me on the matter, and I did attend a public meeting of the Yarralumla Residents Association on 3 June, which around 150 people attended, and discussed their concerns about various aspects of the proposal. It was a very useful meeting for me. I certainly got a lot of insight into the key areas of concern that people had. For the benefit of other members I am going to reflect on some of what I heard that night.
The key area of concern is around the overall scale of the development and the way it will integrate with the existing suburb of Yarralumla. The proposal is for an additional 1,600 dwellings, which is a substantial increase given that the current population of the suburb is around 3,000. A point of contention for many is the difference between this proposal and the earlier version that was put on the table in 2010, in terms of both the number of dwellings and the maximum building heights.
People have questioned how the influx of residents would be serviced by existing facilities, including shops and roads, and essential infrastructure such as stormwater, water and sewerage systems. Certainly, one of the key issues that people raised concerns about was the lack of commercial space in the proposed new development and the pressure this would place on the existing Yarralumla shops, which is already a very popular spot, both for residents of Yarralumla and for people from other suburbs.
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