Page 4325 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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Mrs Dunne: On a point of order, on relevance, the question was: why did you say that you were unaware of proposals relating to Glebe Park when you were specifically briefed about their expansion? The question was not about Aquis’s rights to one block or another or whether or not there is an unsolicited proposal out there. The question was simply: why did you say that you were not aware of the proposals?
MADAM SPEAKER: Chief Minister, you might be able to provide clarity for Mrs Dunne.
MR BARR: If one were to go and look at the block and section maps, there is a narrow section immediately behind the convention centre that could or could not be argued to be part of Glebe Park and then there is Glebe Park, as we understand it, that stretches around to the Canberra Centre. The casino has rights over a narrow section. The area, when I was being asked the question, relates to a different block of land that they have no rights over.
MS LEE: Chief Minister, will you provide the Assembly with the dates and minutes of meetings between government officials and Aquis about their land development and gaming machine proposals?
MR BARR: To the extent that that information can be quickly compiled, I will do so in the fullness of time.
MR COE: Chief Minister, will you provide to the Assembly any written advice that you have received in recent weeks regarding the confusion about the block and section that you signed off on in the brief?
MR BARR: I do not believe any written advice exists, Madam Speaker.
Mr Coe: Who told you it was a mistake, then?
MR BARR: I have ascertained, because there was no decision ever taken to grant any rights. So in the absence of the granting of any rights, I can presume, given that no rights have been granted—
Mr Coe: There are no documents that exist to say, “By the way, the brief was wrong”?
MR BARR: that any rights were granted. There are no documents that exist to that effect. I will check the record as to whether that particular error in terms of the block and section has been formally corrected. I will check that with the agency.
But, in the end, Mr Coe’s grand conspiracy is that rights were granted. They never were. There are no rights over that block. End of case. There will be a consideration of an unsolicited proposal by the casino. You lot have completely reversed your position in relation to the casino, investment in Canberra and, indeed, economic development.
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