Page 5194 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 27 October 2010
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This is not good enough for a growing town centre. A pool of this size won’t be big enough for the growing population in Gungahlin. I work at Parliament House and know that the 25 metre pool there is very small, even for the limited people who use it. Maybe you could save money by scrapping plans for the ridiculous Bunyip statue in the town centre. This ACT Labor Government does make some embarrassing decisions.
Mr Barr: That is Alan Kerlin’s idea. I will be sure to send Alan the Hansard where you have just trashed his idea.
MR HANSON: I am reading from a letter that has been written to you about the priorities of this government and the need for a 50-metre pool. I will not read the name of the person that wrote that letter, but if you want to trash them, you go ahead with that.
Mr Barr: All right, and are you aware of the irony of who is the biggest advocate for the bunyip statue?
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne): Order, Mr Barr! You will get your turn.
MR HANSON: I quote from another letter that was written to you about the 50-metre pool:
Dear Minister Barr
We need a 50-metre pool in Gungahlin Aquatic and Leisure Centre! not a dingy 25-metre one.
People living in Gungahlin has no high-speed broadband, the roads are narrow, digging up trees to expand the road is a routine business. There is no strategy in place to accommodate the expansion of population. Gungahlin is a excellent example to demonstrate the lack of planning by the current Government ranging from the infrastructure to the telecommunications to the pool.
I am extremely disappointed at the Labour Government’s performance in this area, and I don’t think you deserve another chance.
Madam Assistant Speaker, I am sure that Mr Barr received numerous other letters. I have got another one; I think we have got time. This is a letter that was written to the Canberra Times on 11 October:
It is well known that Canberra has for decades supported Labor in both federal and ACT elections.
However, perhaps the time has come for a total rethink. In the lead-up to the 2008 ACT election Gungahlin was promised a $20 million aquatic centre which included a 25m pool and a 50m pool. It now appears that once again the Labor Government has broken that promise in line with its federal equivalents. Andrew Barr is the minister responsible for this appalling decision and should be held solely accountable for misleading the Gungahlin electorate. We need our pools as promised and it is beholden upon Chief Minister Jon Stanhope to deliver.
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