Page 4652 - Week 15 - Thursday, 21 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I shall read the workshop proposals that were formulated that day: To put together a working party to negotiate an appropriate form of self-government for a five-year financial transition arrangement for the Territory - that was supported at the time by Mr Kaine, if I recall correctly; that there be no further cuts in services or sales of revenue-earning assets prior to the ACT achieving self-government; that compensation be made to the ACT budget for the loss of assets such as the Belconnen Mall, the fruit markets at Belconnen, and private servicing of land; that all land revenues become part of the revenue base of the Territory, including betterment taxes for lease purpose changes; that arrangements be made to begin the policy making, implementation and funding of all community services under a single administration; and that the Commonwealth Grants Commission be given a standing reference for the ACT.
As we well know, the Federal Government churlishly ignored all of that and we were not given our say, despite the fact that we were a discrete and organised grouping of informed community representatives. During the self-government process, planning went on the back burner. The planners were in disarray because of the impending dissolution of the National Capital Development Commission, and the administration was working towards self-government and other perceived priorities.
During that period, activists continued to try to protect some of the natural and built features of the city. Some demolitions took place in that period - I will not reopen old scars. My colleague Mr Stefaniak mentioned Rocky Knoll. Pleasant though he may think it, I invite him to try to sleep there on the three or four garbage days a week, between private and government contractors. The Reid Residents Association ran their famous protest of an endless line across a pedestrian crossing in their legitimate attempt to stop flow-through traffic. The police attended, and so on. As Mr Stefaniak knows, I stood in front of the bulldozers and did other things at that time.
My colleague Mr Jensen attended when they felled those beautiful old yellow box trees on Rocky Knoll and literally cut through the bodies of a couple of possums who were nesting in those trees. They felled an ancient yellow box tree that had been used for aeons by nesting birds. They were sad moments in the midst of the self-government process.
Mr Berry: Were they starlings?
MR COLLAERY: Mr Berry is amused by it; he has never been touched by those events, clearly. We continued our activism, centred around the appeal process, finally formulating a Rally policy for the election. Amongst others, the planning policy said:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .