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The Hon. GREG PEARCE [6.15 p.m.]: Tonight I bring to the attention of the House two major concerns raised by many residents of the Ryde area, and in particular Putney, about the proposed redevelopment of the Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney, which is at Ryde. The first relates to the role of the local member, John Watkins, and the second relates to the role of the Planning Minister, the man who is now referred to as the mayor of New South Wales, the Hon. Frank Sartor. I am grateful to the very popular and thorough local Ryde newspaper, The Weekly Times, for reporting on the actions of the people who have been leading the campaign against the rehabilitation centre redevelopment.
On 8 February 2006, the front page of The Weekly Times had a large red headline "Rehab protest rally at Ryde MP's office". The article gave advance notice—not that it was needed—of the rally that was to take place on Sunday 12 February outside John Watkins' office. Of course, it was designed to give him the opportunity to be at the rally. However, he did not turn up; he did not care about the thousands of people who are concerned about this development in his electorate.
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: Point of order: The honourable member is misleading the House. He may be the duty MLC for the Liberal Party in Ryde, but he well knows that the Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney is not in the electorate of Ryde; it is in Anthony Roberts' electorate of Lane Cove. I know exactly how many people turned up to the protest rally he is talking about, and I doubt that there are thousands of concerned people. However, if there were, almost all of them would live in Putney, which is not in the electorate of Ryde but in the electorate of Lane Cove. John Watkins has—
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: What is your point of order?
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: My point is that the honourable member is misleading the House by trying to persuade us that he is speaking in his capacity as duty MLC for Ryde about a matter of concern in that electorate. This development is not in the electorate of Ryde and that point should be placed on the record.
The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Christine Robertson): Order! The honourable member may proceed.
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: Of course, Jan Deadwood is renowned for taking up members' time. As I said, the protest rally outside the office of the honourable member for Ryde, John Watkins, was on 12 February and he could not be bothered turning up, notwithstanding that he had plenty of notice. The proposed development is in fact at Putney. The proposal is to rebuild the rehabilitation centre on a site at the corner of Morrison Road and Charles Street. It will increase the hospital's area from 15,000 square metres to 20,000 square metres and the new building will be up to five storeys tall. The residents' major concern is that the rest of the site is to be rezoned residential. That would allow up to 900 dwellings, townhouses and apartments, up to six storeys tall to be built. The fact that the local member could not turn up when people were at his electorate office —
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: Point of order —
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: —was the subject of an article in The Weekly Times published on 15 February 2006.
The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Christine Robertson): Order! The honourable member will take his seat.
The Hon. Jan Burnswoods: My point of order is about the honourable member's behaviour. Once again, the honourable member is deliberately misleading the House. He knows perfectly well that the development he is talking about is not in the electorate of the member to whom he is referring. Madam Deputy-President, I ask you to check the standing orders about this deliberate and conscious misrepresentation by someone who well knows that the relevant local member is Anthony Roberts, the honourable member for Lane Cove.
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: To the point of order: Jan Deadwood is again taking up time and misleading the House. I have held up the newspaper with the headline "Mass protest rally against John Watkins' inaction". That is what I was talking about. I was not misleading the House at all. There it is in black and white.
The Hon. Henry Tsang: Point of order: The member's time for speaking is up.
The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Christine Robertson): Order! The discussion was in relation to whether the rehabilitation centre was in the electorate of Ryde or Lane Cove. But the rally was at the member's electorate office, so there is no point of order.