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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1379 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

and cultural venues. We can tell various segments of the community that we respect and honour what they do and that, as a community, we are proud of them.

I hope that, in years to come, the whole city will turn out, as it currently does for our sporting heroes, to honour heroes in the fields of cultural activity, academic pursuit, literary pursuit, educational activity, health, scientific and artistic endeavours-our community-based heroes. There are heroes in the fields of music, volunteering, architecture, folk history, accounting and engineering. There are military heroes, peacekeepers, students who endeavour, multicultural and indigenous heroes. There are heroes at both at the national and local levels. There are a number of ways to do this.

As minister, one of the things I was able to implement was the concept of heroes walks. It should not just be sportsmen. The first one, oddly enough, will go to the Raiders and the Brumbies. That is appropriate, but I hope we have an academic walk, linking the university to the city. I hope we have a poets corner that honours our poets. I hope we end up with a walk that honours volunteers. I hope we have a walk somewhere, or a series of memorials or places or something, that will honour the planners who helped set up this wonderful city.

I assume all members have seen the street signs that honour the recipients of the Victoria Cross and the George Cross. These signs have created a huge amount of interest in those men. As to public art, Ainslie's Sheep, in Garema Place in City Walk, is incredibly important. All these are things we can do.

It is important to start with an acknowledgment of what has happened with the War Memorial. They have done it particularly well, and they have done it back to back. I wish them well in this year's awards, at the end of the year. As I said to Mr Quinlan, Brian Kennedy again pricked my conscience on Friday. I hope the government will accept this. Mr Quinlan has told me he does not have a problem with it.

The question is: what do we do? I expect the first one would be quite small. It might be appropriate, given the number of invites that may go out and the number of acceptances that may be received, for it to be confined to the reception room. We could invite Steve Gower and his staff over, and, as an Assembly, thank them. I think it would be very gracious to write to them on behalf of the Assembly. I hope the Chief Minister would sign such a letter, congratulating them. We would then hold a reception here in the Assembly, their building. We would honour them in the place where they live-in the place that represents them-so that we, as a community, can acknowledge them.

I hope that, in years to come, we have to move this out into Civic Square. I hope that, whether it be somebody who volunteers and in some way serves their community, or a student who strives and does incredibly well, we will honour them in a similar way. I hope that, as a community, we show that we can be proud of the very many facets of this city that make it so special.

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