Page 2722 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
something that is worthy of us. Yes, the funding is there but I am told by a number of people that there are some very simple solutions. It would take maybe a year or two to build them. I think it is very important that the government look at that. I am sure that the Assembly will keep it in mind over the coming months.
It is important we get it right because once the Fitters Workshop is gone, it is gone forever as a great venue. It is not just for music. It could be used for other things such as a meeting place in the centre of an arts precinct. I suspect it would be very useful in the long-term future of the arts community in the ACT.
I want to go back to the great big government building for just one more issue, which I forgot. That is the fact that it will have some sort of shopfront in it. Of course, people need to remember that this government closed the Civic shopfront. We used to have a shopfront just directly opposite this building. It raises the question of how the government gets things wrong and does not think ahead long term.
We on this side of the house have always been committed to making sure that people have access to services. Not everybody is technically literate; not everybody has access to the internet. Some people like to deal face to face with another human being rather than over the phone or on the net. We will watch with interest to see what sort of activity gets carried on in the new government office building in regard to the shopfront.
That is a broad coverage of some of the issues. The last issue also concerns the arts community. Recommendation 75 states:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government table in the Legislative Assembly a timetable for the development of the Belconnen Arts Centre by the first sitting day in November 2011.
The response is “not agreed”. Apparently, the government are committed to the capital development of the Belconnen Arts Centre but they are not going to tell us, which I think is a shame. Again, it comes back to openness and accountability. We have had the statement from the Chief Minister that she wants to be more open and more accountable. The committee has given her a great opportunity here in regard to the Belconnen Arts Centre to give us some certainty so that we know what is coming and when it is coming. But, no, the government do not agree with that notion that they should tell the Assembly when the Belconnen arts precinct will be completed.
It is interesting that you have the Chief Minister constantly talking about this. We had the dixer today about openness and accountability—how there had been acknowledgement on some websites about what a dramatic step forward this is. But I think, as you pointed out, Madam Assistant Speaker, that a new website and twittering are not necessarily a leading edge commitment to honesty, openness and accountability. Perhaps if the Chief Minister considered some of these recommendations before she had written her pat answers then we might actually have seen and understood that there is a genuine commitment here. But I do not suspect we will see this.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video