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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1294 ..
MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):
constructing a new wetlands viewing platform, preparing new materials for use by visitors to the reserve, employing three additional staff for visitor services duties and constructing a new Tidbinbilla River walk from the visitors centre to the animal enclosures area. That last suggestion, incidentally, came from the Friends of Tidbinbilla, and I am very glad to provide the money through this method to fund that important activity.
Mr Hird: And to create jobs.
MR HUMPHRIES: And there will be jobs in that, as Mr Hird indicates. There will be three full-time staff members also to be employed from that money.
Mr Corbell interjected before and asked: Why is this not in the budget? The answer is very simple. If it is in the budget, then generally speaking the money goes back into Consolidated Revenue. We are not prepared to do that in this case. We have indicated that this money will be hypothecated to Tidbinbilla. The other reason it is not in the budget, Mr Speaker, is - - -
Mr Corbell: You are the Government. You can do it. Just because it appears in the budget papers, that is not an excuse.
MR SPEAKER: Just a moment. You interjected, which is out of order, and you are now getting an answer, Mr Corbell.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, the other reason it is not in the budget is that traditionally this Assembly has passed the government's budgets, and, if there is a component of the budget such as the raising of revenue, traditionally this Assembly has not intervened in that process. There is an administrative decision to be made. If the money was raised as part of the budget the Assembly would have to block part of the budget in a sense or amend part of the budget to be able to stop these fees. I have made it very clear, by separately announcing this process, that if the Assembly wishes to stop the Government from charging these fees it has the power to do so. I am aware of opposition to the idea of fees to enter Tidbinbilla and I therefore have made it a separate component from the budget so that members, if they wish, can stop the Government from charging these fees. That, I think, reflects the sentiments passed previously by this house when the issue of fees in Tidbinbilla has been debated. So, as a courtesy to the house, I introduce this component. It would have been extremely easy to roll fees into the budget, Mr Speaker; it would have been the easiest thing in the world. But we have not done that, in order to respect the right of members to pass judgment on this proposal separately. That is why we have done it in that way.
MS McRAE: Mr Speaker, my question is to Mr Kaine in his capacity as Minister for Urban Services. Minister, will you assure the Assembly that the former SWOW premises will be made available for community use? If not, what will they be used for?
Mr Kaine: I did not hear the first part of the question.
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