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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (26 February) . . Page.. 484 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, the Planning and Environment Committee asked me to address a number of questions. Although some of these - the future of Acton, for example - have been answered in other forums, now would be an appropriate time for me to inform the Assembly of progress. In order to provide the Commonwealth with the land for the museum, we have been negotiating with the National Capital Authority to formalise the land swap. Both governments are obviously keen to see the museum built in time for the Centenary of Federation, but this Government was not prepared to accept a quick outcome at the expense of a good outcome. I am pleased to announce that we have now formalised the land swap with the Commonwealth, and I table a letter from Warwick Smith which finalises the agreement.

In summary, we agreed that both governments will clean up contamination on their own land at Kingston, noting the provision of section 51 of the Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land Management) Act 1988. We agreed that the Territory will demolish all buildings on Acton except the hospice, the hospital cottage, the ADFA cottage and the former dining room of Sylvia Curley House. After we have removed asbestos from the Acton buildings and cleared the site, the Commonwealth will be responsible for all contamination on that site. We agreed to hand over the hospice and hospital cottage to the Commonwealth, which will issue an occupancy agreement until June 1999, with possible renewal at that time.

Mr Speaker, I think I should clarify a misconception that appears in the Planning and Environment Committee's report. I was a bit concerned to read that the committee believed that my officials have told it that "no land swap agreement exists at the present time". This is a misconception that needs to be clarified. I will not quote from the transcript, as it is only a draft, but I do suggest that members have a look at it. It was made quite clear that there was broad agreement between the ACT and the Commonwealth to swap the land.

Mr Moore: We did not consider that a land swap agreement.

MRS CARNELL: I understand. The agreement between the two governments and the Commonwealth's clear intention for Acton mean that there is no question of pursuing the separate development of the Acton and Kingston sites. We understand that the Commonwealth intends that the National Museum will be open in time for the Centenary of Federation celebrations in 2001. This would mean design work in 1997-98, with most of the construction to occur between 1998 and 2000. Demolition of the former Royal Canberra Hospital and other buildings will take place this year. In fact, some of that demolition work has already started. The ACT has been invited to sit on the Museum Construction Coordinating Committee, along with the chairs of the National Museum, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the National Capital Authority.

As members are aware, the design competition for the Kingston foreshore development was launched in January 1997. Winners will be announced in June this year. Following the completion of the design competition, second stage assessment of the main entries will occur in the months through to September 1997. It would then be prudent to assume that any draft variation of the Territory Plan would be considered by the

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