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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (1 April) . . Page.. 1110 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

him from my first day as a member of the Australian Labor Party. I still remember quite clearly and distinctly the meeting and Barry's chairmanship. I must say one does reflect on how quickly time passes. At that meeting I believe my membership of the Labor Party was moved by a friend, Doug Dunstan, and seconded by, I believe, Henry Lawrence.

It is interesting to note, as we delve into history, the significant Canberrans who were very much part and parcel of politics in days past. But, as I say, Barry was president of the branch of the Australian Labor Party that I joined in 1976 and was closely involved with that branch during the remainder of his term as a member of the Australian Labor Party.

I know that Barry never lost his strong commitment to social justice and Labor ideals. I was certainly always impressed by Barry Reid's enormous energy, his commitment to the community and his love of life. It is with pleasure that I have always regarded Barry Reid as a friend of mine.

In those days he worked hard for the Australian Labor Party. He was always there. He was a very significant Labor Party activist, closely involved in election campaigns over the years and deeply involved in the running of a local branch of a political party. To that extent, I remember and recall with great fondness the fundraising ventures, the time spent on polling booths with Barry and much of the minutia of membership of a local branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Barry had a career in community life outside the Labor Party. He was an accountant working in the Treasury and the Department of Trade. In the 1970s he was very active in implementing significant Whitlam government initiatives. Barry Reid was very closely and personally involved with the establishment of cooperative societies. Indeed, Barry Reid was the driving force behind the establishment and the successful conduct for many years of the cooperative supermarket in Evatt. I do not know whether members of the Assembly remember those initiatives but there was a significant trial of a program of the Whitlam government to establish community-based cooperative societies to provide services for local communities.

Barry Reid essentially drove the establishment of such a cooperative within Evatt-a cooperative which preceded the establishment of the Evatt shops and continues to this day, at least in its physical shape or presence, in the form of the Evatt scout hall. Perhaps many would not recall this earlier emanation of the Evatt Cooperative Society but it is very much a legacy of Barry Reid's.

It was a process or a trial that did not necessarily succeed or linger but it was an interesting emanation of a Whitlam government initiative with which Barry was closely involved. I still think of Barry Reid whenever I drive through Evatt and see the Evatt scout hall. I am reminded of the scheme with which Barry was very closely involved and associated, and to some extent it is through his involvement with issues such as the Evatt cooperative that I maintain my very fond memories of Barry.

Another great initiative with which Barry was very closely involved-and this in a way is a history of Canberra that I think has not been well recorded; and perhaps as we continue to grow and develop we need to be mindful of the history that needs to be written or recorded-was the establishment and operation of the Melba Health Centre.

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