Ms CARNEY - 2005-10-12
I refer to comments you made in the House on 17 October 2001:
You went on to say that it was your job as Chief Minister to deliver on that one. It is nearly four years since you made that statement. Why - we and others ask - have you failed to deliver on that commitment to your own electorate? Where is the skate park?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is with sadness that I answer this question about the skate park. Not that I do not support skate parks, but when we consider what we delivered in government over four years - which was meeting our commitments consistently - I have to put my hand up and say I have failed on the skate park.
Ms Carney: Okay.
Ms MARTIN: Yes, I have failed on the skate park, but only through circumstances outside my control.
The skate park was a commitment, and something that George Brown and I talked about many years ago with young skaters in Parap. We looked at appropriate council land to put that skate park on. The most appropriate council land was the Parap Pool. It would work; it was going to be part of a larger facility there. The young skaters would have supervision of people going to and from the pool on Ross Smith Avenue and they would also have access to a kiosk and toilet facilities. It was going to be a good place.
I was thwarted in this intention because the council then decided to do future directions for their three pools across Darwin, and one of those is Parap Pool. So, we waited. They had a consultancy, discussions with the community, I think they did more consultancies, and the whole issue of where the pools were going became one that did not actually seem to have a resolution. I would ring every few months and say: ‘Do we have resolution on this one yet?’ and it would be: ‘We are getting there’. It is very frustrating, because the appropriate place to put the $300 000 commitment for the skate park is at somewhere like Parap Pool. Simply to say: ‘Let us find an isolated piece of land’ is not acceptable. As young people are the skaters, you cannot put a skate park in a remote part of the electorate that cannot be easily accessed and does not have appropriate adult supervision.
Council did not disagree about putting it at Parap Pool, we just could not get a resolution of what was going to happen within the Parap Pool area. There was discussion in the consultant’s report about what might go at the Parap Pool in the future - some kind of major water facility. There was discussion about what was the future of Nightcliff Pool and Casuarina Pool, and it seems to have gone around a number of times.
I am very pleased to say that we only had a meeting of the task force for the Parap skate park about two weeks ago at the council chambers. We had interested parents and skaters. Mind you, those skaters have got a little older since I first talked to them. We are setting targets for getting this done. I have said to the council many times: ‘Look, I know you are doing an assessment of the future of the Parap Pool area. I know that we have now added a complication by making a commitment to move netball’, which is part of the council land there, and that will happen in two years – a $5m commitment to move netball from the Parap area to Marrara – but I said: ‘Just give us a piece of land’. I have identified the piece of land for about three years now and I believe we are back on target. So, even though I failed to do it in four years, we are back on target, I believe, and we can deliver that skate park for Parap.
However, I have often said to people: ‘The skaters will be grandparents before we do this unless we get moving’. I have also said: ‘We have been able to deliver on multimillion dollar promises. This one has thwarted us temporarily’. But we will get there, we just have to move in conjunction - the dollars are there, council has to find the space and commit to that space. I believe we are getting closer.
I apologise on the floor of the House to my young skaters. They were in primary school when we first started talking about this when I was in opposition, some of them are now almost leaving school and I wish them good luck in Year 12.
- Another issue for Fannie Bay is getting the skate park around the Parap pool area. I assure young Joel Hill and all the lobbyists from the skate park team that we are working to get a solution.
You went on to say that it was your job as Chief Minister to deliver on that one. It is nearly four years since you made that statement. Why - we and others ask - have you failed to deliver on that commitment to your own electorate? Where is the skate park?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is with sadness that I answer this question about the skate park. Not that I do not support skate parks, but when we consider what we delivered in government over four years - which was meeting our commitments consistently - I have to put my hand up and say I have failed on the skate park.
Ms Carney: Okay.
Ms MARTIN: Yes, I have failed on the skate park, but only through circumstances outside my control.
The skate park was a commitment, and something that George Brown and I talked about many years ago with young skaters in Parap. We looked at appropriate council land to put that skate park on. The most appropriate council land was the Parap Pool. It would work; it was going to be part of a larger facility there. The young skaters would have supervision of people going to and from the pool on Ross Smith Avenue and they would also have access to a kiosk and toilet facilities. It was going to be a good place.
I was thwarted in this intention because the council then decided to do future directions for their three pools across Darwin, and one of those is Parap Pool. So, we waited. They had a consultancy, discussions with the community, I think they did more consultancies, and the whole issue of where the pools were going became one that did not actually seem to have a resolution. I would ring every few months and say: ‘Do we have resolution on this one yet?’ and it would be: ‘We are getting there’. It is very frustrating, because the appropriate place to put the $300 000 commitment for the skate park is at somewhere like Parap Pool. Simply to say: ‘Let us find an isolated piece of land’ is not acceptable. As young people are the skaters, you cannot put a skate park in a remote part of the electorate that cannot be easily accessed and does not have appropriate adult supervision.
Council did not disagree about putting it at Parap Pool, we just could not get a resolution of what was going to happen within the Parap Pool area. There was discussion in the consultant’s report about what might go at the Parap Pool in the future - some kind of major water facility. There was discussion about what was the future of Nightcliff Pool and Casuarina Pool, and it seems to have gone around a number of times.
I am very pleased to say that we only had a meeting of the task force for the Parap skate park about two weeks ago at the council chambers. We had interested parents and skaters. Mind you, those skaters have got a little older since I first talked to them. We are setting targets for getting this done. I have said to the council many times: ‘Look, I know you are doing an assessment of the future of the Parap Pool area. I know that we have now added a complication by making a commitment to move netball’, which is part of the council land there, and that will happen in two years – a $5m commitment to move netball from the Parap area to Marrara – but I said: ‘Just give us a piece of land’. I have identified the piece of land for about three years now and I believe we are back on target. So, even though I failed to do it in four years, we are back on target, I believe, and we can deliver that skate park for Parap.
However, I have often said to people: ‘The skaters will be grandparents before we do this unless we get moving’. I have also said: ‘We have been able to deliver on multimillion dollar promises. This one has thwarted us temporarily’. But we will get there, we just have to move in conjunction - the dollars are there, council has to find the space and commit to that space. I believe we are getting closer.
I apologise on the floor of the House to my young skaters. They were in primary school when we first started talking about this when I was in opposition, some of them are now almost leaving school and I wish them good luck in Year 12.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016