Page 6026 - Week 18 - Thursday, 12 December 1991
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Australia, to defend, protect and preserve our national capital and to encourage in every proper way its viable and appropriate economic future, which should be a model for the entire country.
I am very much urging all of us to be concerned about our economic future. I do not believe for a moment the straw man image that has been put up that somehow or other the Residents Rally is interested in returning Canberra to the 1950s. That is absolute nonsense. We want a growing, thriving city. What I see, however, is political games being played by the Labor and Liberal parties, which above all, as far as I can tell, want to be seen as the only legitimate political forces on the ACT scene. The real and long-range interests of the ACT are set aside in the light of those political aims. We have seen it again and again in this Assembly.
Let me now come to the question of development, especially economic development. The Rally agrees that appropriate development is not only desirable but also essential for our very special city. That does not mean that we have to accept every development plan that comes down the track. We certainly do not accept that false image painted of us as being against development. We are for what is best; we are for what is best for our city and our nation economically in the long run. As you investigate your own commitments here, would you not be saying that to yourself? You do not want just the quick fix; you want what is best in the long run.
What should that development consist of? It should include a number of components. I think that in the case of some of these an excellent plan has been put forward on some aspects. The first component is the maintenance of the economic and financial benefits to Canberrans and to the nation of the presence of the national Parliament and the Commonwealth public service. We too easily forget that our economic strength derives partly from that. I want to stress that we have an associated responsibility to protect the economic and social circumstances within which the national Parliament and the public service will operate. The name of the game that we should be playing on behalf of our own city, on behalf of the nation, is integrity - to make sure that the national Parliament and the Commonwealth public service are in existence in a context of integrity.
As a second component, of course there should be many appropriate industries for Canberra. They should include activities related to and arising from government, such as - if I may call it this - the international relations industry. What do I mean by that? I mean all the activities which go on in relation to embassies and to foreign affairs; the activities of our universities in connection with international relations; the equally large lobbying industry connected with government; also the printing and publishing industry connected with all the
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