Page 2727 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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such as rezoning or infrastructure development are the grants of public investment which increase land value, and it is only right that the public receive a share of that benefit through public land development and through the capture of the so-called unearned increment, through mechanisms such as the lease variation charge. In our current debates about housing affordability, do not blame public land development; do not blame the lease variation charges themselves. Their role is an important one, to ensure the public receives a return on the investments that the public purse makes in what is ultimately a public asset, the leasehold.
Madam Speaker, in government I have had the considerable privilege to have held 14 portfolios over a 16-year period. Each has presented its own challenges and opportunities. There are some, of course, that have left a deeper impression than others.
To have had the opportunity to have held the office of Attorney-General has been a deep honour. In Labor’s 16 years of government to date, there have only been two incumbents, Jon Stanhope for six years and myself for the last decade. There have been more changes in every other portfolio, including in the office of Chief Minister. The office of first law officer for the territory is a role I would have never envisaged for myself when I first entered this place. Yet over the last decade the reforms and programs that I have been a part of will, I am sure, be a lasting commitment for the administration of justice in our city.
The recognition of the fundamental right of equality through the passage of the marriage equality act of 2014 will always speak to me as an enduring and lasting reform. Although the law was operational for only a few days, it has two continuing legacies. Firstly, it ended the debate about where responsibility for this fundamental reform lay. The High Court challenge to our law, whilst successful, made it clear and unambiguous that it is for the commonwealth parliament to right the wrong that is the exclusion of same-sex people from the ability to enter into a lawful marriage. Through our passage of law in this place, we set in train a chain of events that sheeted home responsibility to where it should lie, with our federal representatives. It dismays me that there are still too many of them who would seek to prevaricate and avoid their responsibilities to provide for the equal treatment of all citizens under law.
Marriage equality also did another important thing. It told everyone in our community that they were equal and they were respected. I know, from having attended a number of marriage ceremonies during those heady couple of weeks, that it brought and continues to bring great joy.
Effective rights protections are critically important as the reach of the state continues to touch people’s lives more and more, particularly when it comes to personal privacy, national security and crime. The discipline of our Human Rights Act, which demands that governments justify their actions, argue and explain why certain laws are needed and why and how citizens’ rights are to be protected or curtailed, is a vital discipline. As attorney, I have always sought to expand the application and operation of our human rights law, in areas like the right to education and housing, and to impose the discipline of the act upon myself in examining our responses to organised crime and national security. It is vital for the protection of the rights of all of us that this discipline is maintained by whoever my successor as attorney is.
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