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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5125 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

The minister made it quite clear that there will be space in the new Griffin Centre to accommodate existing tenants. I think that the issue we are debating today is that it will accommodate them but it will not necessarily provide them with the same access. The minister said that he would not allow programs to become jeopardised. However, if clients feel uneasy about entering the space, that will impact on the ability of these programs to run. It will cause more unease and it will result in people not wanting to visit the new Griffin Centre.

One of the major issues concerning the new Griffin Centre is how it will cope with growth. Will new community organisations be able to access space as they grow? The Standing Committee on Planning and Environment recommended that a triangular block of land east of the new Griffin Centre site be made available for community use to enable expansion at some time in the future. It is a disappointing and shortsighted approach by this government that it did not adopt that recommendation. We are dealing with problems relating to the current Griffin Centre and the proposed Griffin Centre. However, I believe we should also be dealing with the allocation of space for community facilities in the future.

That is especially so in the city where so much of the land in Canberra-in areas that the government is promoting as the heart of Canberra-is no longer community space. That land has become commercial or privately owned space. It is clear that the government did not spend much time examining the proposal for the new community facility. That is a criticism that I make not just of the current government but also of the former government. An additional $1.7 million had to be injected into the 2001-02 budget to cover the cost of items such as corridors and lifts, which I believe to be fundamental elements of any four-storey building. I was disappointed to see that budgetary allocation.

I was concerned about the fact that some of that $1.7 million was used to purchase extra space at the new Griffin Centre. In the supplementary appropriation bill that was debated this year an additional $1.093 million was allocated to address capital requirements. We had a $1.7 million allocation to buy additional space, but then somebody realised that the additional space should have included lifts. We then had to spend an extra $1 million to buy lifts to go with the space on which we spent $1.7 million. Why did the government not get it right in the first place? Why did no-one say, "If we are buying new space in a four-storey building should we not have lifts to go with it?"

There are a number of flaws in the development of the new Griffin Centre. What is being done to keep current facilities at a workable standard? We are investing more than $2.7 million in a building that will be completed in only 12 to 18 months time but current facilities are in a substandard condition. I realise that the government does not want to spend a lot of money on a building that it is about to tear down. However, Ms Tucker said earlier that the community organisations in the Griffin Centre are currently working in horrific conditions. We would never allow public servants to work in conditions that breach almost every occupational health and safety regulation.

That very sorry state of affairs shows us where the government's priorities lie-priorities that need to be re-evaluated. I said earlier that we must focus on what happens to our community facilities and our community sector. As construction of the new community facility on section 56 has not yet begun I am sure there is still time to make modifications

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