Page 4448 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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There is not a hint of the famous flag pole or mention of anything vaguely associated with politics, and it sets out to make Canberra a modern, vibrant, young city—a great place to visit and to live and do business in. The branding looks great and I personally think it is a great initiative. While in this Chamber we can and do have differing views about many issues, we are certainly all agreed that Canberra is a great place to live and work. We all know what great potential our city has and what great attributes it has—whether it is our mostly fantastic access routes in and around the territory, our world-class restaurants, the cleanest air of any city in Australia, our most distinctive climate and our stunning landscapes in all directions. With our own lake and being so close to the beaches, snow and fishing, all this makes Canberra the ideal place to live, work and play.
But as I said, today’s paper sums up clearly what a confused image we portray to the world. At the bottom of page 1 we have the headline, “Spreading Christmas cheer may come at a cost.” The story relates specifically to a Forrest family who have created international headlines in recent days in reclaiming the Guinness world record for the greatest number of Christmas lights on any one house. They had previously held the record but it had been taken from them by a United States family with about 345,000 lights. The Richards family, with help of ActewAGL and an array of other sponsors, have erected 500,000 lights in an attempt to ensure the record stays here in Canberra for a very long time. What a great initiative it is and what joy and excitement it will bring to Canberra families this Christmas. We have already seen a story published in the weekend media about a wedding held at the Richards’s home under these lights, and this story and others about their amazing annual light displays have been news around the world, putting Canberra on the world stage and showing a softer, prettier side to a government town.
This family, like so many others all around Canberra, like to put up ever bigger and better Christmas displays each year for the enjoyment of all Canberrans. In many, many of them, there are collection boxes for one charity or another, but in all of them there is a great sense of community, excitement, enjoyment and entertainment. These activities are at the heart of Christmas and make it a special time for young children, for neighbours getting together and for people travelling from surrounding towns to see Canberra at its prettiest and best.
While Christmas light displays are activities enjoyed by the community, I do not think you can class them as an event as such, and we know that many of these street light displays can create some traffic issues. But to read in today’s paper that the Richards family have had to meet with TAMS officers about their lights and at that meeting they were informed that they may be liable for costs associated with safety and traffic control is alarming. The costs could run into several thousands of dollars. As Mr Richards has pointed out, any such costs will have to come out of the money raised for their charity—SIDS and Kids.
I am sure the minister was not particularly pleased at being compared to the Christmas Grinch yesterday in this place, but it might be an apt description in relation to this issue. We now know the minister has had a rethink on this issue and charges will now not be levied, but what about the original thought bubble and the negative media that engendered? Even now the minister was not quite sure about whether all costs will be
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