Page 4636 - Week 12 - Thursday, 15 October 2009
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Ms Rosemary Lissimore
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (6.03): On behalf of the people of Tuggeranong, and in particular on behalf of all the members of Brindabella—John Hargreaves, Joy Burch, Amanda Bresnan, Steve Doszpot and myself, Brendan Smyth—I would like to offer a vote of thanks to the outgoing President of the Tuggeranong Community Council, Rosemary Lissimore, for her 19 years of service as president of the council, which I think, certainly for the ACT, has to be something of a record, and probably a record for many councils around the country.
I first met Rosemary Lissimore in March 1995, when I was the brand-new candidate for the seat of Canberra. Indeed, Rosemary asked me my first public question, so I guess I have a soft spot for Rosemary. In those days the council, as Mr Hargreaves would remember, used to meet on the other side of Erindale in a much smaller room than it currently meets in. But I do not think that the tone or tenor of the meetings have declined over the years, certainly for the last few years, and we are very grateful to the Vikings Club; we meet at the Tuggeranong town centre.
Over the last 19 years, some of the issues that the council, through Rosemary, have dealt with are things like youth, skateboard parks, the Karralika development, youth in Lanyon, GPs, youth, the lake foreshores, dollars for the council, planning, roads, youth, aged care, and the cemetery, which perhaps an outgoing minister might call the Rosemary Lissimore memorial cemetery, should it get off the ground. There were election forums, there was wood smoke, there were GPs, there was the dragway—and I have to say that was probably the largest meeting I had ever attended in Tuggeranong. There were about 1,500 people there—700 inside the room that night and 800 outside. Other issues dealt with have been the prison, aircraft noise, power stations, wood smoke, GPs, youth, bushfires, the public liability insurance issue and of course consultation, consultation, consultation.
I do not think there is anyone who always agrees with Rosemary, except perhaps her husband, David, who knows better than anything. But you have got to admire her zeal. I certainly know that, for instance, she gets phone calls from people who think that the Tuggeranong Community Council actually runs Tuggeranong. She has relayed to me on a number of occasions the phone calls for dead cats to be removed and whether she could send the man around now. Perhaps there is still a bit of education to be done as to what the community council does, but she certainly does it in her own imitable style.
One of the high points for me was a couple of the bids to be the tidy town. There is a nice sign on the corner of Anketell Street, where Tuggeranong is noted for being a tidy town participant and a finalist. With respect to the work that was done, there were submissions, tours and amusing the judges. We went off to Sydney, and it was great. It was great for community spirit but it was good for the future of the community council.
I say to Rosemary that we admire you for your passion for Tuggeranong. We admire you for the zeal in the way you go about your work. We certainly admire your fortitude—19 years is a long time—and endurance. We respect your style. I can
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