Page 5128 - Week 12 - Thursday, 27 October 2011
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(a) the ACT Government has allocated $3.8m in its 2011-12 budget for a capital works project in support of an earlier decision to relocate Megalo Print Studio to the Kingston arts precinct, including the Fitters’ Workshop;
(b) there has been considerable public controversy over this initiative, particularly from the music community, having discovered an unusual acoustic quality in the Fitters’ Workshop after the Government had made its decision to move Megalo; and
(c) the Government has refused to review its decision in light of that later discovery;
(2) refer the matter to the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs for consideration and review, including but not limited to:
(a) reviewing the processes followed leading to the Government’s decision to relocate Megalo to the Fitters’ Workshop, including public consultation, expert advice obtained and any other processes the Committee considers relevant;
(b) taking evidence from witnesses;
(c) seeking expert advice;
(d) reviewing any other relevant material;
(e) issuing findings in relation to the probity and efficacy of the processes the Government followed in reaching its decision;
(f) making recommendations to the Assembly; and
(g) reporting to the Legislative Assembly by the last sitting day in 2012; and
(3) calls on the Government to suspend the capital works project until the Standing Committee has reported, the Government has responded and the Legislative Assembly has debated the Government’s response.
This is an important motion about what is proposed to become an attractive place for arts practitioners, mainly visual arts practitioners, and the proposals put forward by the government which may—through what I would consider to be a hasty and ill thought out approach—militate against creating a vibrant Kingston arts precinct. I am proposing this motion today because, along with members of the community, I am concerned about the lack of appropriate consultation on this important piece of real estate and the large amounts of money that the government is proposing to spend in this area.
After moving this motion today, I was going to move to amend it because, for some reason, I managed to exclude an appropriate reporting date. Somewhere along the line, the word “June” fell out of 2(g) in my draft when it was submitted to the Assembly,
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