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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2372 ..
MR PRATT
(continuing):Mr Speaker, I thought that Mr Hargreaves' description of the students was a little bit harsh. I was there on Friday and was very happy to see Mr Hargreaves there. It was a good opportunity for both sides of the house to talk to students and receive an important petition, but I think he was being a little precious when he said that the students only had one lousy looking sign. The fact is that the students were passionate about their cause. They were certainly fun loving, but they were also quite serious about the cause and I thought that they behaved pretty professionally. They were not a bunch of yahoos, an impression you might have got if you had heard Mr Hargreaves.
Mr Wood
: He didn't say that at all.MR PRATT
: No, he did say that they had a sign that you could not read and were leaping around the place and asked whether they got their message over. The fact is that they did get their message over, Mr Wood, and they were quite serious and quite professional about that.I congratulate the students and I congratulate the teachers who guided them to organise their protest in a rather professional manner. I have asked the student council and the group of students that I spoke to there to fully research their needs and to submit a plan. They can do that to the government. They can also drop me a copy, if they like. In fact, I would like to see a copy. I have also spoken to the principal so that he is kept in the loop and people are not unsure of what is going on.
My view is that the students need at least 45 dedicated parking spaces in the car park immediately adjacent to the college. Mr Hargreaves was quite right in his speech earlier in saying that there is very little parking available. On a Friday, you cannot find a parking space if you drive down there. You have to wait for somebody to die or leave before you can get one.
We cannot allow that to continue. These students need dedicated parking. I would suggest that a zone be set aside and a voucher system of parking be allowed so that only the right people can use that zone. I congratulate the students. I look forward to more representation from them. I look forward to handing down a petition on their behalf, hopefully, tomorrow.
MR WOOD
(Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for the Arts and Heritage and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (9.59): This debate has been a nice opportunity for everybody to regurgitate what they have been saying on a whole range of issues for the last year. I do not think that I have heard anything new tonight. Some of these things have been said many times.There was one thing I had not quite heard before, that is, that Mrs Dunne, if returned to government, proposes to do away with paid parking. That seems to be her idea. She says that it is wrong and unfair. She did not quite say that she was going to do away with paid parking, but that is the obvious inference that one may draw from what she said. That is an interesting notion that I have not heard before. It would have some quite interesting repercussions around the city if that were to happen.
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