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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2142 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Whilst this is the effective repeal of those two pieces of legislation, amongst some other minor amendments to the Planning and Land Act, it is worth placing on the record my thanks to both the Kingston Foreshore Development Authority board and the board of the Gungahlin Development Authority for their efforts in establishing those two very important development projects for the territory.

I was today at a lunch of the board of the Gungahlin Development Authority, following their last meeting today, and it was with great pleasure that I had that meeting. The Gungahlin Development Authority started with a budget based on a loan from the territory of $800,000, and at its closure the authority will be returning a dividend of over $33 million to the territory. Both boards proved to be successful in terms of their financial return to the territory.

Just as importantly, the Gungahlin Town Centre is now on a strong footing for future growth and development, with the announcement of the sale and development of three sections adjacent to the existing Gungahlin marketplace. Over the next 18 months, we will see the Gungahlin Town Centre transformed into a lively and vibrant centre, with an employment base of between 500 and 1,000 people. It will be an exciting time for Gungahlin. It is due to the Gungahlin Development Authority putting that in place that the Land Development Agency will now be well placed to continue that work.

Equally, the efforts of the Kingston Foreshore Development Authority board in progressing that very complex brownfield project-the first significant brownfield project in the territory-has had an outstanding result. In financial terms for the territory, the project has been slower to come to maturity, but in terms of the urban design and in terms of the overall design outcome at Kingston, we are well placed to see it come to concrete reality.

Over the next 18 months we will see the establishment and creation of the boat harbour at the Kingston Foreshore, which will bring heart and life to the very centre of that redevelopment site. One of the most interesting things I have done as minister responsible for Kingston is to acquire a piece of land at the Kingston Foreshore under the Lands Acquisition Act. When I was asked why we were acquiring the piece of land, I was advised that we were acquiring the piece of land so that we can turn it into a piece of water as part of the boat harbour. That was indeed an interesting highlight for the Kingston Foreshore Development Authority.

I place on record my thanks to the board of Kingston Foreshore Development Authority and, indeed, the chief executive officers and staff of both authorities. The government's commitment to those projects remains undiminished, despite the fact that we will no longer have a Gungahlin or Kingston Foreshore development authority. The new Land Development Agency will undertake those functions with as much gusto as those previous institutions.

Most importantly, the staff, who have both the expertise and the corporate knowledge and memory of those projects, will be staying on to continue to deliver those very important projects. I thank the opposition for their support of this bill.

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