Page 1538 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 12 August 1992
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The choice, as I have said before, is no longer here. Instead we - and I mean all of us - have the responsibility of devising and implementing programs aimed at providing Canberra with alternative development patterns in line with the requirements of the twenty-first century. But, above all, I want you all to keep in mind that the uniqueness and beauty of our city will remain, and should remain, undiminished.
The fact that we need to generate a fresh concept of the benefits that flow from this strategy does not imply that our lifestyle will be, or needs to be, affected for the worse. I am more than confident that changes which would undermine the essential spirit of Canberra would receive little support from any popularly elected Assembly. I shall certainly be on my guard against changes of this sort. Madam Speaker, we cannot go on expanding forever; of that there can be no doubt. The social, economic and environmental costs have already become too great for us not to take stock and to revitalise that which we already possess.
Mr Kaine: Madam Speaker, his time has run out.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Kaine, do you have a point of order?
Mr Kaine: No. I am standing up to speak.
MADAM SPEAKER: Yes, your time has run out, Mr Lamont.
MR LAMONT: Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his courtesy in reminding me of the time. I had not been watching the clock.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (10.50): I do not quite know what that was about, Madam Speaker - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: Never mind, Mr Kaine. You have the floor.
MR KAINE: The indicator that the time was up sounded. I think everybody in the Assembly heard it, except perhaps Mr Lamont.
Madam Speaker, the subject that Mr Lamont introduces today is an interesting one. It is an interesting one because the Labor Party suddenly seems to have been struck, as if by a bolt out of the blue, with the urgency of urban renewal. Many of us have been confronting this problem for a long time. It is not a new thought at all. The other interesting thing about this debate, Madam Speaker, is that it is Mr Lamont who introduces it, not the Minister, who one would have thought would have been interested in the subject. Perhaps what this demonstrates is that we have a breath of fresh air in the - - -
Mr Lamont: I am chair of the Planning Committee.
MR KAINE: But you are not the Minister. Surely the Minister is the person who should be here telling us about what the Labor Party's policy is for the planning and development of Canberra. I happen to be a member of the Planning Committee too; but that, to some degree, is irrelevant. I also happen to be the shadow Minister for this subject matter. But perhaps it is indicative that, with Mr Lamont here, there is now a breath of fresh air in the Labor Party and the Labor Party is prepared to confront the issue rather than trying to shove it under the carpet.
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