Page 1183 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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(3) the Members who served on the Steering Committee, parliamentary and other staff,
for their endeavours in providing an elegant, functional and restrained building for the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory.
Madam Speaker, on behalf of members, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the many people who have been involved in the planning and refurbishment of the new Legislative Assembly building. I have mentioned in the motion all of those to whom I believe we owe particular gratitude. I think the hard work and the dedication that have been shown by everybody involved have culminated in the very elegant and very functional surroundings that our Assembly now finds itself in. I would like also to extend our thanks to those members and staff who served on the steering committee dealing with the Assembly's relocation, and to the public servants whose tireless endeavours over the past few months have made our move a reality. Madam Speaker, I would like to mention that for many of those people, the members and the staff especially, this work was an add-on. It was an additional task to their already pretty busy days, so I think we do owe them a debt of thanks.
I am sure that all members would agree with me when I say that this move does mark a very important milestone in the maturity of self-government. The Legislative Assembly is now located in a building that is owned by the Territory and that is certainly much more suited to our functions. The building is far more accessible. It is identifiable to the citizens of the ACT, and, Madam Speaker, I believe that that is what self-government is all about.
I commend the motion to the Assembly as a mark of appreciation to all the people who have contributed to our new premises. I would like particularly to commend whoever designed the premises. I find the architecture and the finish very appealing indeed. I also believe that a very high quality of craftsmanship and workmanship is shown throughout the building. That is very pleasing indeed because we know that this building was completed to a very tight budget and in a very tight timescale. The fact that it has come up so well is a great tribute, I think, to our Canberra designers and builders and construction workers. Madam Speaker, I would also like to thank you for the part that you played in coordinating so much of the work associated with the new building. I ask all members to join with me in endorsing the sentiments I have expressed. I think that everybody who has worked on this building has done us proud.
MR DE DOMENICO (3.08): Madam Speaker, I am delighted to rise on behalf of the Liberal Party to endorse the comments made by the Chief Minister, and I do so as a member of that initial steering committee, as you are aware, Madam Speaker, with Mr Lamont and Mr Moore and others. Perhaps the two most appropriate words that can be used to describe this building were used by Mr Lamont, I think, at our first meeting. I am sure that he will not mind me plagiarising his words. At the very first meeting he said that, whatever we do, it has to be "modest and appropriate". The building is, as Ms Follett has said, very appropriate. In terms of the amount of money spent and the timescale in which it was built, I should imagine that the community of Canberra also realises that it is very modest.
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