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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (10 May) . . Page.. 1360 ..
Mr Corbell: He said it before an Assembly committee. Are you suggesting he lied? Are you suggesting he lied?
MR SPEAKER: Order! The minister will answer the question, thank you, not anybody else.
Mr Corbell: Are you suggesting he lied? Are you suggesting he lied?
MR SPEAKER: Do you want to have a chance to ask a question, Mr Corbell, or would you prefer to be out of the chamber for the rest of question time?
Mr Corbell: No, I would much rather be here, Mr Speaker.
MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, the interpretation of the word "pressure" and how it has been applied seem to be the issue here. Mr Speaker, what I have said, and what I have consistently said, is that the government has done the work that leads us to the belief that the eastern route is the best route to service the need of all Canberrans. The work was done by the former Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning and the government stands by that position.
I have also said on many occasions that there are those out there who would seek to knock this road off. Indeed, last Friday, I am told, at the urban services committee meeting there were those who put the position that this road should not be built. That is not the government saying it; it is other people saying it. I have simply said that they need to stand up and express their opinion, and they have done it now.
Mr Gower has clarified what he said at the urban services committee meeting and I am more than happy to read it into the record again. It is quite clear that he does not believe, unlike what those opposite would like to portray, that I have done anything untoward.
MS TUCKER: I have a supplementary question. Can you now assure this Assembly and the people of Gungahlin that if the Assembly decides to reject the eastern route for the Gungahlin Drive extension and recommends that the road be built on a different route, you will comply with the Assembly's wishes?
MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, we will look at the recommendations of the committee, but the government's stated position does not change. We have a report commissioned by the former minister which clearly says that this is the best route. We have chosen that route. What we have here is a game, just the spin doctors at work because they do not like the fact that the Gungahlin Community Council and the residents of Gungahlin are standing up for themselves. They are expressing an opinion that coincides with the government's and it is clearly something-
Mr Corbell: They changed their opinion under pressure.
MR SMYTH
: Mr Corbell interjects that they changed their opinion under pressure. Given what was said in the statement, I contacted Roma Hosking to ask her for clarification of what supposedly had been said and had they, in fact, changed their position. I asked Roma to put it in writing. She related it to me over the phone and I said,
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