Page 45 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 14 February 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
the public arena and says, “Look at all of these people that have complained to me.” He goes fishing. What happens? He gets a toadfish and he gets sprung. He is sprung and his name is besmirched all the way through the internet. Around the world this man is besmirched. He has earned a reputation for that underhand behaviour, that set-up behaviour.
My advice to the people of the ACT is crystal clear: one, ignore everything that Mr Pratt does and says; two, feel safe in your home because you have the best emergency services in the country; and, three, next time vote as though your life depends on it.
Yarralumla brickworks
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the minister for heritage and it relates to the Yarralumla brickworks. Minister, the Yarralumla brickworks have presented a policy challenge since the inception of self-government. What steps have you and your government taken to secure the future of the heritage-listed brickworks, owned by the ACT government, in case you do not know? Are you content to have the Yarralumla brickworks continue to be a haven for arsonists and other types of vandals until they fall down?
MR STANHOPE: It is undoubtedly the case that the Yarralumla brickworks are very significant, touching on iconic, in the context of our heritage. I think that it can be said that, of the major iconic parts of our built environment, the Yarralumla brickworks and the chimney feature are perhaps the most enduring of the major built structures within the ACT and are of enormous heritage and cultural significance to the people of the ACT now and always will be. It certainly is, as Mrs Dunne acknowledges, a precinct that has represented a major management challenge to successive governments, including before self-government but certainly since self-government.
I do not think that there has been an ACT government that has not grappled with an appropriate use. There have been some quite innovative proposals and plans developed from time to time, including, of course, one for its use as a site for Floriade as well as a site for significant redevelopment. It is vitally important that we maintain the structural integrity of the Yarralumla brickworks and that we continue to acknowledge absolutely its significance culturally.
Much of early Canberra was born, certainly had its gestation, in the kilns at the Yarralumla brickworks. It was one of the first major industrial sites within the ACT. Even today, in the context of our community, it remains as the most significant industrial site. I guess we could have a debate about that, but it is probably the most visible of the industrial sites that have been part and parcel of our history.
Acknowledging all of that, the ACT government, through the Minister for Planning and through ACTPLA, have been very involved in the development of a range of planning exercises in relation to the Yarralumla brickworks and its environs. I do not have the detail of the planning work that the Minister for Planning has been overseeing through ACTPLA in relation to the Yarralumla brickworks. It is interesting, I think, in the context of the cut and run approach of Mr Mulcahy to refusing the engage the Treasurer in debate, that we now see this proclivity to ask—
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .