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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 1 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 188 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

the context in which they are written and used to bring about a better form of living for people in the ACT.

I would also like to say that I do accept the spirit of Ms Tucker's amendment but reiterate my concern that, even though there is medium and long-term space for those over 16 in the Belconnen and Gungahlin areas, there is a major gap affecting young people accessing crisis accommodation in that area. I hope that this motion will serve to bring about a greater focus on the needs of young people in crisis. Thank you.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

Adjournment

Motion (by Mr Wood) proposed:

Mrs Vicki Dunne-votes received at south Kaleen polling booth

MR SMYTH (5.37): Mr Speaker, in the previous debate on Gungahlin Drive the Chief Minister came down to point out that he thought he had read somewhere that Mrs Dunne got zero votes at the Kaleen south booth. I am sure he did not intend to mislead the house, but it is just not true. The results at the ACT election web site prove that Mrs Dunne came ninth out of the 26 candidates in the south Kaleen booth. She picked up something like 55 votes, beat some of your Labor colleagues and certainly did not receive zero. Perhaps the Chief Minister would like to apologise for incorrectly informing us of that count.

Death of Mrs Betty Wakefield

MS MacDONALD (5.38): I would like to speak about a wonderful woman: Betty Wakefield. Betty Wakefield passed away on Monday of this week. Betty had been a member of the Australian Labor Party for over 40 years. Indeed, Betty had actually received her life membership at the ACT branch conference in 1999. I was fortunate enough to first meet Betty at the Australian Labor Party's status of women policy committee several years ago. This was one of her many passions, but she had many.

Betty was always a lively contributor to discussion on this committee, and I saw her argue strongly for the reintroduction of rank-and-file pre-selection into the ACT branch. I believe that has been of great importance to the Labor Party in the ACT since then.

Betty was a teacher. She was the science mistress of Ginninderra High and before that Telopea Park. She was renowned for nurturing young teachers. Betty was also a fairly high-up unionist at council level, and she was also renowned for strongly believing in women's rights. She was a strong environmentalist and an active member of the Retired Teachers Association.

As a teacher, Betty was known for being passionate about education. In that we shared a common interest. She was also known by many people throughout the ACT, and I suspect that at her funeral tomorrow there will be a very big turn-out.

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