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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 3 Hansard (27 May) . . Page.. 646 ..


MR SPEAKER: Do you have a supplementary question, Mr Hird?

MR HIRD: Yes, I do, Mr Speaker. I must say that the Minister has painted a rosy picture of Tuggeranong, but it is not quite up to Belconnen.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Hird, no preamble, and stop misleading the house!

MR HIRD: It is a fact, sir. There are five members here that would agree with me, I am sure - even the ones over the other side. The lovely Belconnen! Is the Minister aware of the call from Mr Hargreaves for the Government to come clean on residential development in Tuggeranong and his claim that "if the Minister has nothing to hide ... he should be happy to list these sites."?

MR SMYTH: I must say that Mr Hargreaves's request for the Government to come clean over residential development in Tuggeranong really is fair enough. I guess what he is asking is that the Government explain its secret agenda. There is no secret plan for residential development in Tuggeranong; in fact, there are two secret plans for residential development in Tuggeranong, and these plans must be secret, Mr Speaker, because Mr Hargreaves seems to be unaware of them. So, I have come here today to explain our secret plans.

The first of our secret plans is the Territory Plan, and here we have it in full technicolour for all members of the Assembly to see. This secret document was, in fact, released by the Labor Government in the early 1990s and it determines the land use policies for the future of the ACT. That is the bit that means what goes where for the entire Territory, including the residential areas in Tuggeranong. I confess that there are some here - Mr Humphries and Mr Wood - who have been Planning Minister for longer than I. Perhaps they would like to take this opportunity to explain to Mr Hargreaves what the Territory Plan actually is. I think Mr Wood was actually the Planning Minister who released the plan. Is that right, Mr Wood?

Mr Wood: Yes.

MR SMYTH: Yes, Bill Wood. For Mr Hargreaves's information, the residential areas - the orange bits - actually show where people can go and live. Those of you that have been here a bit longer than I have might remember the controversy over the pink bits in the original draft Territory Plan.

Mr Stanhope: That was on John Howard's native title matter.

MR SMYTH: No, these are your pink bits, these investigation areas; but I think it is much nicer to call them pink bits. The pink bits in the draft released by Mr Wood basically said that anything can go anywhere. The orange bits, on the other hand, are clearly residential. These residential areas, or orange bits, are clearly marked on this top secret document which is, in fact, so secret that it is available from PALM's shopfront. You can see it at your local library and you can see it at the Assembly library. In fact, it is even on the Internet now, Mr Stanhope.


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