Page 3969 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
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The Prime Minister's statement was fundamentally about putting cultural policy in mainstream decision making. It is a vision which will benefit all States and this Territory. The word is "vision" - a Labor Government vision of Australia's cultural future. The Liberal oppositions, both federally and locally, have no vision, and that is why they will never find themselves in government. The Federal Opposition thought the museum project so inconsequential that they forgot to mention it in their The Things That Matter policy. Clearly, this is one project that did not matter. These people posture, claiming to have an interest and, as Mr Humphries said, claiming to speak on behalf of the party - and the party does not see this as anything that matters. Nor, I note, did the Liberals mention it here in the ACT in their platform. Perhaps Mr Humphries can show me where in his platform it is referred to.
Mr Humphries: We did not try to buy government federally by making promises we could not keep.
MR WOOD: So you agree with what I say? You confirm my remarks? The National Museum was mentioned in Federal Liberal documents. It was mentioned in Fightback, with a claim that the Liberals would reduce the amount of money the museum would receive. That document stated:
The National Museum of Australia's development will be carefully examined with a view to reducing its rate of growth in spending by $1 million.
That is the priority that it got in Fightback; that is the priority of the Federal Liberals, on whose behalf Mr Humphries was expressing great outrage. He said, "I speak for the Liberals".
As I said last night, a more recent document, theCultural Frontier, was released by the Liberals only two months ago, although it has faded totally from view. I would like the Liberals who so strongly support the National Museum, Liberals like Mr De Domenico, to go away and read theCultural Frontier document and tell me what it says about the National Museum. What does it say about the National Museum? What priority does the Liberals' major cultural document give to the National Museum? Mr De Domenico does not know what priority it gives. It does not give any priority at all. It does not give the National Museum a mention. Yet we saw Mr Humphries posturing. I will keep using that word because there is no cultural depth at all to the Liberals. The Liberal Party has shown here that it has no interest in such cultural matters.
All the two Liberals who have spoken today want to do is to stand up and run a political line, in the belief that here is something they can score from. I would give you some respect if in your documents you had shown some respect for the National Museum. You have not done that locally or federally and, therefore, you have no credibility.
Mr De Domenico: Just wait and see.
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