Page 263 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 30 May 1989

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Although the old Parliament House is significant for all Australians, it is of infinitely more significance to the people of the ACT. For anyone to suggest that it is inappropriate for us to be housed in that building across the lake, a building of such enormous significance to the ACT and to its history, is, I think, an insult to Canberra's history itself.

To cordon off the parliamentary triangle and to assume that it cannot be used for any Canberra-related purposes, I think, is to treat it like a sort of Vatican City in the middle of the ACT, which would be wholly inappropriate. There are many other reasons, which I do not have time to go through, Mr Speaker, as to why that building would be an appropriate place. It is much more accessible than this building in terms of parking and things of that kind; it has more space, a commodity we desperately need; and, moreover, it puts distance between the public servants and the politicians - also a very healthy thing.

I would ask the Government to explore that idea, or at least to keep the option open as far as the Federal Government is concerned. It should at least ask the Federal Government what the consequences of such a move would be, and advise the Assembly at some later stage of the results of those inquiries.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Assembly adjourned at 4.59 pm

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