Page 69 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 7 April 1992
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Madam Speaker, for someone with my background in the trade union movement, the creation of jobs is an article of faith. There can be no higher task for a Labor government. But those jobs should, and can, be created without despoiling the environment and the way of life which as Canberrans we often take for granted. For this reason I am especially pleased to hear my Chief Minister emphasising that the Government is to give high priority to preserving the special features of Canberra which make it such an attractive place in which to live and work - those very things which brought me to Canberra as a boy all those years ago.
Madam Speaker, my Chief Minister has also outlined a number of important measures which will do much to preserve our natural environment. The creation of a Commissioner for the Environment will be particularly important in this regard, as will the provision of a new waste treatment facility.
Madam Speaker, these two issues, of Canberra's lifestyle and jobs for its citizens, are issues which I will be working hard to promote in my capacity as chairperson of the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure. They will also be of significance for me in my role as deputy chair of the Tourism and ACT Promotion Committee. I must also say, however, Madam Speaker, that they are, above all, issues which go to the very heart of my lifelong involvement with Canberra and the region. I suppose that it is an old-fashioned thing, but I see these issues as ones which, by virtue of my experience and interest in them, I have a duty to pursue for the betterment of the citizens who elected me to this position which I now find myself in and which I am indeed honoured to hold.
Madam Speaker, I also wish to take this opportunity to place on public record my everlasting gratitude not only to you as a colleague in the last 18 months to two years, preparing for our recent election, but also to the rest of my colleagues here in the Assembly and in particular to the rank and file members of the Australian Labor Party - the oldest continuing political party in Australia. To them I do indeed owe a debt of gratitude. I certainly hope that not only my actions, but indeed those of this Assembly, deliver to them in the next three years those things which, as a party, we quite clearly have annunciated in our recent election manifesto.
MRS CARNELL (8.43): Let me begin by thanking the people of Canberra for the faith they have placed in me by electing me to this Assembly. I hope that my contribution will prove that their faith is well placed. I would also like to thank the people who contributed so much to our recent campaign. There were the candidates, both those sitting here today and those who were unsuccessful; there were the party members who worked tirelessly; and, most importantly, there were our office staff - those who are often forgotten - and particularly Gwen Wilcox. I would like to thank them for their enormous contribution, and of course for their personal support and support to the team as a whole.
I really look forward to a good working relationship with members of this Assembly. I hope that, underneath the posturing, relationships will be less acrimonious than perhaps they were during the last Assembly. I am optimistic that the reputation acquired by the First Assembly will be greatly improved during the life of this Second Assembly. This can only be good for Canberra. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, Madam Speaker, on your election and wish you well in the execution of your very important duties.
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