Page 3011 - Week 08 - Thursday, 25 June 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
against the Speaker last week, an extraordinary attack on the chair. We had the extraordinary attack on reporting in the Canberra Times when he received press that he did not like, to do with the home affordability scheme. And we had an extraordinary attack on the coroner after the bushfires. So that is openness, that is honesty and that is accountability.
What we have is rhetoric that does not match the actions of this government. I think that, if it were not for the fact that we in the Assembly have people like the auditor keeping an eye on this government and what they are up to, we would be in a far worse position.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (4.34): I want to stand and follow my two colleagues but speak specifically about Tuggeranong and the way that this government have been honest, open and accountable with Tuggeranong in all their negotiations. You only have to think about block 1670 Tuggeranong to realise that this government have no intention of ever telling people the full story of what it is they want, and they have no intention of letting people into the negotiations at the early stage so that they can make a reasonable contribution to the process.
If you look at block 1670 Tuggeranong and the blocks that surround it, there have actually been four proposals, since the Stanhope government came to office, to go on this block, and in most cases it is because the public found out about it, public meetings were organised and the public expressed their opinion, that things were changed. Over the course of the last seven years, there was going to be a prison there, there was going to be a dragway there and there was going to be a data centre and power station there. And now we are looking at the option of a cemetery there.
Mr Hargreaves: No dragway was going to be there at all. You’ve got the wrong block again.
MR SMYTH: I said in that area.
Mr Hargreaves: Not in that area.
MR SMYTH: I said 1670 and the surrounding blocks. You need to pay more attention before you interject, John. You will be far more potent if you do it that way. I referred to that general area, but the minister does not listen.
Again, we have this litany of occasions where the government has tried to foist things onto the public and has been caught out. As soon as the idea for the prison came out, there was a community meeting, the Tuggeranong Community Council expressed concern and it went away. The government got caught. The Chief Minister got caught. He found the block. He pointed to the empty block on the map and said, “Put it there,” but the community were on to him.
In terms of the dragway, again there was a public meeting. The gentleman in charge of security at the club where we had the meeting said he thought there were 1,500 people there. There were about 700 or 800 inside and about 700 or 800 outside—people who were concerned at the lack of consultation and the approach that the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .