Page 1446 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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It is also important to acknowledge—I have not had the opportunity to do this since his resignation from the Senate—former federal sports minister Senator Mark Arbib. He has been very supportive in facilitating discussions with national sporting organisations in relation to the centenary program and I thank Mark for that. And I note with great delight that our own ACT Senator Kate Lundy has assumed the federal sports portfolio. Regardless of where you sit in politics, everyone would acknowledge Senator Lundy’s deep commitment to sport and the fact that she is an active participant in and patron of many sports and sporting organisations in the ACT. So I know we have an ally in relation to the national sporting program for 2013, and a particularly strong ally to ensure that the program around women’s sport in particular is very strong.
With these amendments I think what we have is a very constructive motion, one that reflects a shared view in the Assembly around the significance of our centenary in 2013. I welcome the support of the shadow minister in relation to the international flights, and the qualified support of Mr Rattenbury. I suspect that the Greens will continue their campaign in relation to airport curfews. Regardless of the merits of that, there is one sort of practical factor and that is that it is not determined in this place; it is a matter of federal jurisdiction. That is rightly so and I cannot see a circumstance where that will change. So I think it is worth observing from—
Mr Smyth: It has changed before.
MR BARR: I do not think it is going to change again. I think it is worth observing that the Greens should be clear, when they make these statements, that the Assembly has no power in this area; to suggest otherwise is not true. It is important when bringing these issues into this place that that is acknowledged and that we do not see some sort of campaign run that this place can make that decision. That would not be true. I know the passion with which the Greens seek to pursue issues of truth and honesty in politics, and I am sure that that will continue in their acknowledgement that the Assembly has no capacity to place a curfew on the airport at Canberra. I think it is appropriately regulated at the federal level.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.10): I really had not intended to speak but I have been given the invitation. I actually support all of Mr Smyth’s amendments. I think they pick up points that all of the parties were working around this morning. I think we managed to find a set of words that accommodates the various perspectives and particularly puts the national perspective on it as well. Whilst all members may be looking forward to it, I think we also want to make sure, as I said earlier, that this is not just a celebration for the residents of Canberra.
I reassure Mr Barr that I have never understood that the Assembly has the technical power to change those laws regarding a curfew.
Mr Barr interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: I have always understood that. If anybody else has taken it the other way, that only points to their ignorance of the law. But what Mr Barr would
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