Page 4918 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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But it will require a degree of initiative and drive by the Federal and ACT Labor Governments, elements within the bureaucracy and, as my colleague Mr Collaery has already indicated, the forum that has been developed for the Canberra and south-east region, the South East Economic Development Council. I attended that forum recently and listened with great interest to the plenary session of the meetings. There were a lot of very fine ideas expressed. A lot of very fine people are working towards the development of this region as a focus for this part of Australia. That is something that this Assembly should fully support and encourage.
With the long-term development of the health system within the ACT, notwithstanding some of the problems in the past, I think there is once again a potential for the ACT to provide a centre of excellence, not only for the ACT but for the region. I think we have to look wider than just the ACT and the region. You could argue that, as the national capital, we should be seeking to expand our borders into the Pacific region and should encourage the development and setting up of international companies and groups within the national capital. I think we could be the focus of that. We could, for example, have a regional law centre. Issues related to international law within the South Pacific region could be focused on the national capital. That is most important. That, of course, would bring a degree of expertise and experience to this city, and the extra employment that is going to be required.
Whatever happens to the Federal government, whether it is Liberal or Labor, I believe that there will be a requirement to make micro-economic changes within the Federal bureaucracy that will require considerable changes to the development of our bureaucracy. I think that we need to expand even further the amount of private sector involvement in the ACT from just over 50 per cent to much closer to the national average. I think we have potential, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, with the degree of drive and emphasis of elements within the Chief Minister's Department.
Another area that springs to mind immediately, of course, is the communications business. I am aware of some elements within both the Federal and local bureaucracies that have expressed an interest and a desire for the ACT to become a centre for the communications industry. We could become the focus for information from all over the world coming into Australia and it could be distributed from here. That is another area that I suggest fits very well with the concept of Canberra becoming an education city, like many around the world, with its highly educated work force. I think we need to push for that. I would encourage, as my colleague Mr Collaery has indicated, the establishment of the sort of forum that an EPAC-type arrangement would provide.
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