Page 2038 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992
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ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES - STANDING COMMITTEE
Report on New Assembly Premises
Ms McRae (4.47): Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, pursuant to order, I present the report of the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedures entitled "Provision of New Assembly Premises", together with extracts from the minutes of proceedings. I move:
That the report be adopted.
I am pleased to introduce into the Assembly today the report of the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedures inquiry into the provision of new Assembly premises for the ACT Legislative Assembly. Given the magnitude of the task and the requirement that it be completed within a relatively short time, I will take this opportunity to express my thanks to the members of the committee - Mr Moore, Mr De Domenico and Mr Lamont - to the secretary of the committee and to the Clerk of the Assembly and his staff for their cooperation and support in this endeavour. I believe that we have collectively produced a report which is well worthy of adoption in the Assembly and which will, if implemented, provide us with a new home for the Legislative Assembly appropriate for our needs.
The report which I present to the Assembly today calls for the creation of the new Legislative Assembly in a refurbished South Building. After extensive consideration, I believe that we have arrived at a recommendation which may be supported on a range of criteria. In recommending the South Building, not only does our report fulfil the terms of reference of initial inquiry, and comprehensively fulfil them, but it also produces an outcome which can be supported in terms of location, access, function, economics and symbolism. With your indulgence, I will briefly outline why.
By recommending the refurbished South Building as the home for the new Assembly we are quite conscious that we have directed your attention to the advantages of locating the Assembly in the heart of Civic. We have sought to locate the house of the people at the very centre of our community. This gesture is appropriate in terms of affording the maximum visibility to the Assembly within appropriate fiscal limits and at the same time making the symbolic gesture of giving the community daily contact with its chosen freely-elected government. The long-term success of any elected body depends upon its rapport with the electors. In the heart of the community we can be in contact with the community. If we are to be the voice of the people in the Australian Capital Territory and if the Assembly building is to be the symbol of our democratic process to which we subscribe, it is surely appropriate that we place our Legislative Assembly visibly in the centre of the community. We can there arrange, design and operate it so that the maximum access to the community is afforded with the greatest of ease.
In arriving at the recommendation which you have before you today, the committee was able to draw on a very wide range of opinion, experience, expertise and knowledge. With the indulgence of the Assembly, we were able to draw on experience from all around Australia. By coincidence, several other States in Australia had of late conducted exercises which were of direct relevance to our own terms of reference. The Northern Territory is in the final stages of
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