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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (19 August) . . Page.. 2801 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

never going to forget that day, and I know that many people in my suburb and the suburbs around me are not going to forget that day in a hurry either. I think the issue is: how do we respond to the recovery issue, because this is a recovery issue? Do we respond in a positive, thoughtful, forward-looking manner, or do we respond in a manner which is negative, fault seeking and blame laying?

Mr Speaker, the government prefers the positive, proactive, sensible approach, rather than that which seeks to paint labels on people and say "this is why it happened". That actually is a cop-out. It is a cop-out because it refuses to learn the lessons and it refuses to acknowledge the complexity of what occurred. The government will not be doing that, Mr Speaker, but we will be embarking on a course of action as is outlined in this very thoughtful and important government response.

MRS DUNNE (4.43): Mr Speaker, I hope that the people of the ACT will not be like the Bourbons-learn nothing and forget nothing. We have spent a lot of time on this matter and there has been a little more heat and a lot less light than there should have been in this debate today. But what we are doing today is the first step-it should be the first step-and I hope it is not going to be a process of cutting off the steps of inquiry that are necessary for the healing process.

Mr Corbell says that those people who were close to the events will never forget that day, and I think that is true. There has to be a healing process. I was not closely associated with this fire but, like many people in this place and elsewhere, I was not warned. But because of my own experience with fire and the damage that fire can do to your property and your family, I know that you have to have an answer as to why it happened. You have to have an answer to how can you avoid it happening again.

Our small domestic fire has had a huge impact on our family, and I know that part of the answer, part of the process of recovering, is about finding the answers so that you can learn from what has happened. Yes, learn from what has happened but to do so you actually have to find out what happened.

Mr Pratt spoke very eloquently about what is good in the McLeod report. I think the main problem with the McLeod report is that Mr McLeod did not have the flexibility that he needed to cover all the aspects that it was necessary to inquire into. He has touched on this in many places of his report where basically he says that he didn't have time to go into it.

There are problems with the process which this opposition has been critiquing since the outset-not as means of tearing people down or anything like that but as a means of getting the best possible outcome for the people of Canberra. This is why this opposition wanted a more fulsome type of inquiry. I understand the imperative for doing things quickly, but it does not mean you do it dirty. There are still substantial gaps in what has been put forward by Mr McLeod and issues that have yet to be addressed.

In the areas that I am particularly interested in and concerned about, such as fuel management, Mr McLeod makes some fine recommendations, all which I am in agreement with, but there are places where he stops short and says, "I can't comment any further on this. I shouldn't go down this path,"and I think that is a failing in the

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