Page 378 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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That being said, I will simply close and again inform the Chief Minister that there are two major concerns in the community that remain. The first is the nature of clause 9 and its definition of a communications facility, which will be addressed, because that will be removed. So no precedent will be set and things will be answered.
The second is the size of the power station. I would like again to ask the Chief Minister, when he concludes, to give a guarantee about the size of the power station. He will not tell us what his understanding of the power station on that site will be and what size he will allow, but what we want—
Mr Doszpot: Some comfort.
MR SMYTH: No, it is not comfort. I am sure he would like to give comfort but we want certainty. In particular, the people of Tuggeranong want certainty as to what is entailed in this bill today. So we will look for that certainty from the Chief Minister when he concludes.
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (4.59): Before I make a few comments, I would like to put on the record something which I think is important. I had joined the CPR—that is, Citizens for Power Station Relocation—as a concerned citizen, while I was a member of the community, prior to being elected.
My colleagues have already covered all of the details to do with the technicalities and the lack of consultation that has occurred or not occurred in this case with the community. I would like to underline what Mr Smyth said in regard to the concern of our community. There is huge concern in the Tuggeranong community about the issues that we have been discussing so far this afternoon.
Chief Minister, I guess this is very important from your point of view: I have received representations from my constituents in Tuggeranong regarding their concerns about the proposed Hume assessment facilitation bill. They have been overwhelmed with considering the 162-page Auditor-General’s report, which was tabled only yesterday, the proposed legislation, the Hume assessment facilitation bill, and the response to the draft ESA, which of course is due tomorrow.
Despite letters and emails sent to the Minister for Planning and to you, Chief Minister, requesting guidance and extensions of time for the community to consider and respond to these important documents, the community has not received any response or guidance from the government—no response whatsoever. The community has not been consulted or involved in any of the discussions around the creation of this legislation. Their concern, Chief Minister, is real. This is not a group of five, six or 10 people, which is the propaganda that we keep hearing about. This is a community that is expressing deep concerns regarding the details and the intent of the proposed legislation. They have sent details of these concerns to us, to the Greens and to your MLAs, including Ms Burch, who also represents Brindabella and the Tuggeranong community.
These concerns focus on the lack of definition around what constitutes the development. They also detail, amongst other things, that this legislation, if passed,
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