Page 1185 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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Mr Berry: But not as big as Mrs Carnell's.
MR MOORE: But not as big as Mrs Carnell's. It is probably time for the Liberals to put a scale on each of those offices so that they can be satisfied that they provide just enough room. It is obvious from Mr De Domenico's comments that he does not require that much room, and I support him there. Of course, I require a little more. If I keep doing as little running around as I have done previously, I will need even more room. One of the side benefits here is that we can walk up and down stairs and around the building. I certainly find that I feel a bit better for it. The other thing I would like to say is that, having held a public hearing in the committee room, the difference between the old committee room and the new committee room is extraordinary. I think that that will enhance the work we do with the people of Canberra. I would like to join in thanking the workers for making this possible.
MR KAINE (3.14): Madam Speaker, I would like to say a few words on this subject. The process of achieving self-government for the ACT has been a long one. It has gone on for decades. Greg Cornwell and I were elected to the first Legislative Assembly of the ACT in 1974 and it was thought that that was going to be a self-governing body. That turned out not to be the case; but, 20 years later, in 1994, here we are.
The process of achieving self-government has many elements to it. The first substantive step was taken in 1988 when the Commonwealth decided that there would be self-government and that there would be an election in 1989 which would elect a self-governing body for the Territory; but that went only part way. It was later that we began to take on functions like the court system and the police. We have not yet completed the process of establishing our own ACT Government Service, although, within the next six months or so, I suppose that will be in place too.
Establishing a place in which this legislature could meet was, in my view, very much a part of that process. Our first meeting place was adequate, but we must have been the only parliament in the former British Commonwealth that operated from rented premises. They were never designed for the purpose and there were many difficulties. This building is associated with some of the earlier bodies. The Legislative Assembly of 1974 met in that corner of the building behind the Government members, and before that the Advisory Council met here; so, in some sense, this building has been associated with the self-government process for a long time. It is pleasing to me, 20 years later, to come back to this building which, as I said, Greg and I came into in 1974. When I heard that this was going to be the Assembly building I wondered what it was going to be like inside, because I remembered what it used to be like. Even in 1974 this was not a particularly good building, and I wondered how we were going to make a silk purse out of that sow's ear. I came to have a look part way through the process. There were holes being drilled in the concrete and walls being knocked out, and I could not visualise what it was going to look like when it was finished. I did not really see it after it was finished until the day we moved in, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.
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