Page 892 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The Prime Minister went further and pledged a deep and enduring partnership with the commonwealth and the ACT legislatures and between the governments of the commonwealth and the ACT to foster and develop a strong and flourishing city. This was, I think, significant recognition that Canberra is not yet a fully built city, that it has a future even greater than its past.
This was also clear from the fact that our Prime Minister made these commitments in what she said was a spirit of pride in Canberra’s past and absolute confidence in its future. Her next words were ones that ought to ring in the ears of all Canberrans and resonate nationally. She said to all Australians that Canberra was a success, a collective success, and that it deserved to be celebrated.
Mr Speaker, some Canberrans might perhaps believe that we do not need anyone’s endorsement, not even the Prime Minister’s. I disagree. Our identity and our economy will always be inextricably bound up with that of the national government. Our geography as well as our natural advantages demand it. This does not mean that we will be hostage to the whims of individual federal governments. We can, must and are reducing our vulnerability to these whims.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, a supplementary.
MR HARGREAVES: Chief Minister, how do you see our role as the nation’s capital developing in our second century in the context of the Prime Minister’s words last week?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. I believe this is a very exciting time for our city. I think we can take firmer control of our destiny than ever before and we will as part of this acknowledge our past. We will always be the ceremonial and administrative heart of the country, but already we are something much more and in our second century we will become something else again.
Part of our vision for Canberra is that we become not just the nation’s capital but the economic, industrial and service capital of the south-east; a destination for education, health care, cultural life and clean industry. Canberra is also home to 360,000 locals. We have to also ensure that we keep on top of those issues that matter locally—the municipal services, the health services, the school services.
We can of course be both of these things—a wonderful city where we enjoy such a high standard of living—but we can also be much more: a world-class national capital which seeks the attention and recognition of the rest of the country and indeed internationally.
We are already a much different city from the one that was imagined by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney. That is still part of us, but we are already, I think, five times the population that was envisaged by Walter Burley Griffin.
I think our second century will be the best one we have had, where we can combine the two things that are important to our city—one, the home it is to all of us, but, two, the role we play in our country’s identity, as the national capital.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video