Page 715 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Sydney and Melbourne went to in order to advance their careers with no intention of staying. A funny thing happened to many of those people. In spite of their conviction to return north or south, they began to like this country bush city town.
Among those won over by the ‘Berra in 1962 were Mr and Mrs Richard and Colleen Hinder, formerly of Sydney and Picton respectively. They lived in rented accommodation in Queanbeyan and Ainslie before building in Jensen Street in Hughes. They were the second house in the Woden Valley, the first being Doug Anthony’s, who was later to become Country Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister.
All of their friends asked why they were moving all the way out to Hughes. It was at that home in Hughes and in this town that I was born. For all of my life and very nearly half of Canberra’s it has been my home. Canberra today is much changed, no longer a paddock with grand buildings plonked in it, no longer a place people cannot wait to leave. I rarely hear that there is nothing to do in Canberra because that is plainly no longer true. The streetscapes have changed, with cosmopolitan cafe culture replacing or augmenting conventional retail services and repair, arts precincts and residential developments all integrated to create something different. In my view these changes are in large part thanks to the efforts of successive Labor governments.
We have enabled considerable change. We have consistently invested in world-class arts and sporting facilities and worked with the business community to diversify Canberra’s economy, and we continue to encourage, support and foster the growth of the university sector and tourism. We will continue to invest in public transport infrastructure to meet the demands of our growing city for decades to come. Under Labor, Canberra has become a city capital to be proud of. That is why I am proud to stand in this chamber on this side as a Labor member and have the opportunity to contribute to the city’s further growth while ensuring we preserve the history and social fabric of our city.
The electorate of Ginninderra is well known to me, having lived in the area for decades. I first moved to Latham and then to Florey in 1985. Ginninderra incorporates all of Belconnen, as you know, and the southern part of Gungahlin. It stretches from Molonglo River in the south to Hall in the north and from Macgregor in the west to Kaleen in the east.
At the October poll this year the new seat of Yerrabi will incorporate nine of the suburbs currently comprising Ginninderra, including my own suburb of Giralang. The people I have met in the 30 years since I first moved to Latham are some of the proudest and hardest working people in the country. Ginninderra is a relatively young electorate with a lower median age than the national average. It is also a growing electorate, with significant population growth since 2011.
The area houses some of the capital’s most important institutions, including the Australian Institute of Sport, the University of Canberra, Canberra Institute of Technology and Canberra Stadium and, thanks to this territory government, it will have by 2018 the territory’s newest hospital. These dynamics make it a candidate for both private and public investment in education, innovation and jobs—causes which I will actively advocate for during my time in this place.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video