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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 605 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I think that is a perfectly sensible approach. There is no excuse in that approach for the Federal Government to renege on its decision. If they renege on their decision, it will be because of their political cynicism on the hill and because of a failure of those opposite to deliver to the people of Canberra on an undertaking that Mr Howard gave in December last year. So, Mr Speaker, let the Government here focus its energies not on spending $8m of ACT taxpayers' money without any concomitant commitment from the Commonwealth but instead on getting the Commonwealth to stick to its promise.

MR MOORE (5.35): Mr Speaker, as I rise to address this issue, I would ask you to provide me with a new set of standing orders. My copy finishes at standing order 275, and I want to know what standing orders 276 to 301 are.

Mr Speaker, it actually gives me some anguish to rise to speak in this debate. I can recall, when Mr Humphries was going about the business of closing the Royal Canberra Hospital, the amount of effort that I, along with many members of the community, put into resisting that move, which I still believe was a mistake. In the end, I also objected to Mr Berry doing the final closure. Mr Berry's argument at the time was that things had just gone too far. On many occasions in this Assembly I said that I did not believe that to be the case; that there was a series of alternatives open to Labor to retain the hospital. That fell on deaf ears. But that was the process.

We then moved to a process whereby we said, "What we want to see on Acton Peninsula is health facilities". Indeed, one of those health facilities - the hospice - eventually managed to find its way there. I was always very supportive of Mr Berry in his fight - and it was quite a fight - to get the hospice there. I continued to argue that the Acton Peninsula should be used for the health of the community. I was very broad in my definition of "health". I am sure that Mr Berry will remember, when he was the Minister, that I said that, as far as I was concerned, facilities that added to the health of the nation were part of my definition of a healthy population. I have made a number of those sorts of speeches.

I was delighted, then, when the former Prime Minister announced that the site could be used for a national museum for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Mr Speaker, I was particularly of that mind when, driving across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and looking down at the peninsula, I asked myself, "What will I feel proud of in 10 years' time? If I look and see those buildings still sitting there, empty, or even reused, will I be proud, or will I have even more pride in having a national museum of Aboriginal Australia there?". I ask myself the same questions now. If I go across the bridge and look down and see the area as it is now, or even slightly modified, will I see a healthier society than if I look down and see that site and say, "What we have now is a National Museum of Australia, and I have played some small part in ensuring that that site was used in the best interests of a healthier society."?

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