Page 155 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 12 February 2020
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Projects and Canberra Health met to discuss closely held options for SPIRE, with at least one of them to change the location of SPIRE. Minister, why were you telling the Woden Valley Community Council and Garran residents one thing in November when you and officials were considering other options?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I think I have already been very clear that we are not considering other options for the location of SPIRE. The Canberra Liberals are very confused. They do not understand the difference between location and footprint.
MR HANSON: Minister, can you confirm that that meeting in late November, where other options were discussed, did occur?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I refer again to my previous answers. I cannot confirm that other options for the location were discussed, because that is not what the document was about. I have been clear in my public statements and at the local community forum last week that the site for the SPIRE project is settled and the government has no intention of reconsidering this question. This is not what that email was about. The chosen site is the best option and planning—
Mr Coe: Point of order on relevance. The specific supplementary question that Mr Hanson asked was: did a meeting in late November take place. The minister has not yet answered that question and it does not look like an answer is coming.
MADAM SPEAKER: There were two parts to the question. It was about the meeting and whether options were being considered or not. The minister is being relevant to the question.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: The email referred to a meeting of officials and I understand it did take place.
MRS JONES: Minister, when will you admit that the footprint and location of SPIRE are wrong and are not what the community wants?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Jones for the supplementary question. As I was saying, the government is firmly of the view, after years of due diligence and after years of examining alternative options, that the chosen site is the best option, and planning to deliver the SPIRE project on this site is well progressed.
I have also been clear that the detailed project design still has a long way to go. This includes the exact footprint of the building, its connections with other buildings on the Canberra Hospital campus, and traffic and pedestrian routes. That is what this email was about. That is what the conversation between officials was about. That is partly what our conversation with the community is about. This is why we are meeting with the community to take on board their feedback, to address their concerns; their concerns about existing traffic issues on Gilmore Crescent, which I have committed to look at, and which will not be made worse by the SPIRE project.
We have established a local community reference group, the membership of which will be announced shortly, and we have already had the first local community forum,
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