Page 2549 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 1991
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around that are regarded as sacred sites. One that really rankles with me in a way is City Hill. It is regarded by many people as being a sacred site to the ethos of Canberra. People forget that it is just a piece of dirt.
Mr Wood: Would you have knocked the billboard down?
MR DUBY: I certainly would not have removed the billboard. I would have strenuously opposed the removal of the billboard; put it that way. I would have been able, I am sure, to justify that decision in any council. Nevertheless, time moves on, and I suppose time will heal the wound of not seeing the billboard there advising the populace of the coming attractions on the Canberra calendar.
Mr Kaine: All the 11-year-old kids I spoke to wanted it left there.
Mrs Nolan: Most people did not know what was on it, though.
MR DUBY: No. Most people endorsed the concept of the billboard, I must admit. I was very sad to see it go. Nevertheless, it has gone. I think it would have been a little bit more appropriate for the Minister to have consulted with other members of the Assembly before he went on his path of vandalism.
DR KINLOCH (4.14): Mr Speaker, I briefly want to say that I think Mr Duby takes some disappointments in life very well indeed, and he has done it with good humour. Perhaps we could have an annual party where we all gather up there at City Hill to raise our glass to the billboard.
MR HUMPHRIES (4.15): I rise to support Mr Duby on this matter. The Liberal Party discussed this the other day and I think we took a position on it, but I have forgotten what that was. On that basis I propose to speak my mind on the matter. I certainly would have been out there chaining myself to the billboard if only I had known. Unfortunately, there was no consultation and I had no chance.
Mr Speaker, I think that this particular report by the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure is a salutary lesson in the nature of these sorts of inquiries and the question of whether such inquiries actually find out what people in the ACT think. There were 51 submissions received by the inquiry from a very wide range of individuals and organisations, including the ACT Heritage Committee, the Smith Family, the Australian Federal Police, the National Trust, and the faculty of environmental design at the ANU. So, there was a very wide range of views canvassed. The report records that only 10 of the 51 submissions received were in favour of retention of the billboard.
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