Page 2504 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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multicultural affairs, ageing and the status of women. Given this approach to being open and accountable about resources—
MR SPEAKER: So why aren’t we dealing with it there instead of here?
MR SMYTH: This comes within Disability, Housing and Community Services, Mr Speaker. It is in output class 3.2 on page 193, Disability, Housing and Community Services. But that is the point: why are we dealing with it there? Who knows where it is? It is not possible to identify what resources are committed in the 2007-08 budget for any of those areas—multicultural affairs, ageing, the status of women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, because they are lumped together. This has been raised before in areas involving other portfolios, and you have to ask: what does this say about the commitment of the Stanhope government to indigenous affairs?
We then have the fiasco over the location of the healing farm. We will not go into whether or not the documents had been supplied. They clearly had not been supplied; community members had not seen them. Mr Stanhope’s statement on Tuesday night that they were on the web and that they had been made available to members of the opposition was just not true. The fiasco regarding the healing farm is even more concerning when the Chief Minister is saying that it should be in Hawker. The “bush healing farm” should be in Hawker! Last time I looked, Hawker was a suburb. If the Chief Minister had actually spoken with the indigenous community, he would know that they genuinely want it in the bush. They want to take people with difficulties—Aboriginal people in particular but the farm will be open to all—out of the city so that they can reacquaint themselves with the land. It is a worthy project, and I would suggest that the Chief Minister should talk to those proposing it. They have selected some sites in the south, particularly in the Ingledene area, which would be a fabulous place for a bush healing farm.
The Yarramundi Reach centre came in for some questioning during the estimates process. As many would know, the former site of the National Museum was handed over to the ACT government and we now have a cultural centre on Yarramundi Reach. But the problem is that there has been a very slow spend of capital funds that have been available for some years to develop the centre. During the recent estimates hearing, I asked about the progress with capital works on this site. The answer I received was that the first stage of capital works would upgrade the hydraulics and other systems. I repeat: the first stage.
You have to ask: what has been happening on this site? According to my records, the first record of this capital works project appears in the June 2001-02 capital works progress report, with a value of $2.025 million and with a completion date for the first stage of June 2002. In the latest report that I have, for the December quarter 2005-06—because the government has denied us access to these reports—the value remains at $2.025 million and there has been a spend of just $0.6 million. It now has a completion date of December 2006 but do we know whether it has been completed? No, because the reports have failed to be tabled. Furthermore, the answer I have just received says that the project has now been delayed for approximately six months, which would bring it to June. It is quite extraordinary. So I ask again: what is happening on this site? I am now being told that the first stage of the project is still being undertaken. I certainly have a number of concerns about that.
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