Page 3961 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
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Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister's announcement of the construction of a Gallery of Aboriginal Australia on Acton Peninsula has been welcomed by the ACT Government. I would be the first to say that I would have welcomed even more the construction of the National Museum of Australia on Yarramundi Reach, and that remains my position. However, this is a significant step forward, and I welcome it. The construction of the gallery, as members will know, is part of a far-reaching cultural policy by the Federal Government. It is part of the most comprehensive arts and culture policy statement made by an Australian government, and that statement was made by a Labor government. I think that is what is really irking Mr Humphries.
Madam Speaker, the impact on the ACT of the Federal Labor Government's decision to construct the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia is a positive one. How could it possibly be anything else? I want to make a small statement about that, because I am tired to death of Mr Humphries and others of his ilk referring to the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia as a downgrading, a gutting, of the concept. This verges on racism. Let us make no mistake about that. I have heard one media commentator after another use the same sort of derogatory tone about the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia, and I have heard Mr Humphries use it over and over. I maintain the view that that is racist, and nothing will persuade me otherwise.
Mr Humphries: That is a load of crap.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Deputy Speaker, I think that is unparliamentary.
Mr Humphries: I withdraw.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Deputy Speaker, as members know, the ACT Government has argued for the development of the Museum of Australia on the Yarramundi Reach site, and we have done so consistently over many years; but the Federal Government has now made a decision to locate an integral component of the museum on the Acton Peninsula site. That is their right. From our point of view, it is an acceptable decision. It is not our preferred decision - I make no bones about that - but it is certainly a decision that brings a new and very important cultural facility to Canberra. This is clearly good for the ACT and for our industries.
Following the launching of the Creative Nation statement on 18 October, Mr Deputy Speaker, Senator Gareth Evans and Mr Michael Lee have both made statements which, I think, demonstrate that the original concept of the National Museum and its three themes is still alive. Senator Evans said:
It -
he meant the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia -
will be a magnificent facility and it will be at the core and the heart of the clear original concept of the National Museum.
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