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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (29 November) . . Page.. 3430 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

The problem with the Noel Butlin Archives is that the Australian National University, where it is housed, is reducing the amount of funding available for it. I can understand that universities around Australia are finding difficulty with funding, given the policies of the current Liberal government. Reduced funding is a great problem for the archive, which is not able to carry on in the way it needs to. It will not be quite as accessible for students and researchers. That is a loss to the university, a loss to students and a loss to the ACT.

It is a fair question to ask why we in this Assembly should be concerned about it. The ANU is funded by the federal government-not to sufficient degree, to be sure-and it is an independent body. It might be said that it has nothing to do with this Assembly. That archive is nevertheless an asset of the ACT. It is also an asset of the Australian National University. As it is an asset of the ACT, I believe we have a very real interest in how it is maintained. It is an appropriate collection to be housed in the national capital and in the national university of Australia. It is very sensible that it be housed here. We have a vested interest in ensuring that it remains well resourced.

We have commented in this Assembly before on issues over which we have no direct control. Members will have well in mind some of those issues that have been raised in the past. So we have set the pattern. We can comment on matters beyond the Assembly. I maintain that the archive is near and dear to us. Anytime you go through Acton tunnel, you go through the middle of the archive. You cannot see it, of course, but it is above the Acton tunnel. So it is really close to us in more ways than one.

I maintain that it is appropriate for us to call on the Chief Minister, as the motion does, to transmit to the federal Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs the terms of this motion. This motion refers the matter to the proper funding agency. We are saying to the federal minister, "We value this archive within the Australian National University as an asset in the ACT. You ought to fund it. It is your responsibility to do so." That is the purpose of the motion.

Simply put, Canberra and the university are proper places for this collection. It ought not to be diminished. Let us support it in the way we can.

MR CORBELL (5.47): I am very pleased this evening to rise in support of the motion proposed by my colleague Mr Wood. The Noel Butlin Archives are a significant, indeed unique, collection of the records and papers of industry and the trade union movement of Australia. Together, those two sectors have forged a considerable role in shaping the very history of the nation, so the records of major unions and major businesses are vital for historians to properly understand the forces, decisions, and views which shaped the history of our nation in relation to industrial relations policy, wages policy, social policy and industry policy.

The Australian National University has not only a significant asset on its hands in the Noel Butlin Archives but also a significant public trust in properly maintaining these archives. The decision by the Australian National University to cut funding to the Noel Butlin Archives, to reduce the level of archivists maintaining the archives, will result in the archives being less accessible to those people who wish to access them and study their records.

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