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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 2 Hansard (21 May) . . Page.. 509 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Like John Hargreaves, I will take the approach of going down to the level of the electorate of Brindabella, where I think we have a wonderful arts community. Clearly, you have the flagship of the fleet down at the Community Arts Centre, such as Domenic Mico, Jenny Scheele and all the folk involved with that. There was a barbecue there two weeks ago. There is a meeting there next Monday to discuss arts and the promotion of arts and culture in the Tuggeranong Valley in particular, and I would urge all Canberrans to be there.

Even beyond the physical buildings, you then go to Taylor Primary School, which recently had its annual music festival. It runs for three days. I know that Mr Wood and his staff are all involved with that. There you have a community looking after itself and making sure that we foster in our children that love and respect of the arts, of music and of culture, which is the basis of much greater further learning. For me there was an opportunity at the far end of the city the other night at Watson, at Aspinall Street, at the Craft Centre. I opened Tivaevae, a display of Cook Islands quilts. There we saw a lot of people who were willing to travel to far Watson on a quite cool night and we had these quilts on display.

Mr Corbell: It is only far for you.

MR SMYTH: It is far from Tuggeranong. It is a long way from home, I can assure you. A lot of people were willing to go out there on a Wednesday night. What we had there was another nation's culture and arts on display, gratefully embraced by the local community who were treated to a wonderful choir that sang for several minutes. It was a quite spectacular evening, right across the board. We call them the arty crowd, but they were just ordinary Canberrans who were very interested in how that affected their own perception of community, and they were willing to learn from other communities which are significant in our country.

Mr Quinlan and Mr Corbell are here listening to this debate. Here in the Assembly we have a lot of people who have a great respect for the arts. I acknowledge Mr Berry's words. We allow the community access and allow the community many voices on a subject which, by the sound of it, we are all quite in agreement with. We have some unique opportunities. In Brindabella I understand that the Muslim community have scattered throughout the garages of Tuggeranong and, indeed, all of Canberra one of the largest collections, if not the largest collection in the Southern Hemisphere, of Muslim literature in the form of books, magazines and videos. They are now looking at building their own cultural centre, which will add to the art framework of the ACT and which, I think, will enhance us all. There is another ace in the deck that will allow us to learn more about ourselves through our understanding of others, and I think that is very important.

The future of the arts in Brindabella will receive a huge boost, I think, next Monday night. I acknowledge Trevor Kaine's presence now. I think Trevor, with John and Domenic Mico, has worked to put this function on next Monday night so that the whole valley can get involved with the discussion of how we promote the arts and cultural activity in the Tuggeranong Valley. Hopefully, in the next few months, we will see

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