Page 125 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 February 1990
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Mr Berry: Which quarters?
MR HUMPHRIES: Maybe Mr Berry would like to listen. There is concern about the level of literacy and numeracy of graduates from ACT schools. One area of concern, for example, has been from the Confederation of ACT Industry, which has said clearly that members of its organisation have expressed grave concern about the level of literacy of graduates from schools in general and to some extent from the ACT education system in particular. That means that we have to address the problems that those people raise by assessing whether or not we are taking the appropriate directions in the area of literacy and numeracy. It is entirely appropriate in those circumstances to make these kinds of inquiries. I am not going to pre-empt what the result of that process might be by saying that the Government will do X or that the Government will do Y, but I believe it is appropriate for us to be exploring these options now.
Land Use
MR WHALAN: I ask a question of the Chief Minister as the Minister for planning. Do you or your Government endorse, or indeed have you authorised, the proposals put to the National Capital Planning Authority by Mr Campbell of the Interim Territory Planning Authority concerning the identification of Parkes Way as the base of the Parliamentary Triangle for purposes of limiting designated land; also, the proposal that the Territory Planning Authority be solely responsible for planning matters relating to all leased land; and, finally, that the NCPA role in relation to the major avenues be limited to special requirements rather than designation?
MR KAINE: Those are three quite different matters, of course. The first one has to do with determining the boundaries of the Parliamentary Triangle. I believe that the proposal that Parkes Way rather than Constitution Avenue be the northern boundary is a better solution than that currently proposed in relation to land declared as national land because it removes the difficulty of this Assembly and this Territory being involved in the use of land along Constitution Avenue. Of course that intrudes into Civic, the heart of the local community centre of Canberra, which has nothing to do with the national interest at all. As a counterproposal to that of the Commonwealth, that Constitution Avenue ought to be the northern boundary, I think that to designate Parkes Way as the northern boundary is a better solution for us, and of course ultimately hopefully the designation of national land will be discussed on a government to government basis anyway.
The second aspect of the question had to do with control over leased land. I think that gets into the question of
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