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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Tuesday, 30 March 2004) . . Page.. 1245 ..

Housing Society for those in need of housing, an advocacy role that showed that what we had in Brian I’Anson was an individual who was interested in his community and who turned his interest into action. I think that it was this sort of action that actually built the community, that built what we talk about here often as social capital. He was a man who was out there weaving the fabric of social capital and at the time of his passing he left Canberra a much better place for his being here.

To Jill and the children, I wish you well. You have our sympathies. It is sad to lose a loved one, but Brian’s passing will not be the end of his time with us. I think that his memory will be with us for a very long time because he was a man who put his personal stamp on Canberra and Canberra is a better place for his having been here. On behalf of the Canberra Liberals, I offer our sympathies and we, too, will rise to remember a great Canberran.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning): I rise to support this condolence motion today for Brian I’Anson. As the Chief Minister said, Brian I’Anson’s death has left us all the poorer. Brian I’Anson will be particularly remembered for his significant contribution to the development of community health services in the ACT. His authority to speak on community health issues came from personal experience and from 30 years of contributing to the sector. He advocated hope for people with serious mental illness and this hope translated into community housing, stigma reduction and employment projects.

Brian I’Anson’s contribution at the national and international level also enriched the provision of local community mental health services. Two highly regarded mental health services, Mental Illness Education ACT and the ACT Mental Health Foundation, provide a lasting inheritance from Brian I’Anson’s participation in our community.

He contributed significantly to mental health policy development in the territory directly through his membership of the ACT Mental Health Advisory Group, which investigated mental health issues and reported directly to the minister for health of the day. He was known as a quietly spoken and deeply spiritual man who lived his faith through action in the community.

I join the Chief Minister and members in expressing condolences to the family and friends of Brian I’Anson.

MS TUCKER: I join members in this condolence motion for Brian I’Anson. As members have said, he was a man who was dedicated to social justice in Canberra. He was a powerful force for good in our community. I knew him, not through his union work, but through his work in our community for people with mental illness. I saw him as a particularly successful person in terms of his capacity to raise awareness about mental illness in our community and to achieve results, focusing particularly on stigma, accommodation and employment, as members have said.

He was one of the people who were instrumental in setting up Mental Illness Education Australia and then Mental Illness Education ACT, which was extremely important because there is still a huge issue around stigma in our society for people who have mental illness and mental illness education is one of the really positive ways of

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