Page 1025 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2018
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(5) What grounds does the CRA use for deciding what to name new locations, parks, roads etc, under its jurisdiction.
(6) Of public parks and roads named in the last three years, what proportion have been (a) democratically chosen, (b) named after a woman, (c) named after a Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual and Queer person, (d) named after a person of colour and (e) named after an Indigenous person.
(7) Have any public parks and roads named in the last three years been named after individuals known to have (a) perpetrated genocide or acts of war against indigenous people historically and (b) committed acts of violence against civilians.
(8) What steps is the ACT Government taking to ensure women and Indigenous people in particular, and marginalised groups more generally, are better represented in the naming of public spaces in the ACT.
(9) What steps is the Government taking to ensure that Marion Mahoney Griffin is equally commemorated to Walter Burley Griffin.
Mr Barr: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The four naming options were provided by the ACT Place Names Committee, which provides recommendations to the Minister, or his delegate, on place names for public places on Territory land in the ACT. In the spirit of embracing community participation the City Renewal Authority consulted with the committee to undertake community engagement to select a preferred name for the new park from an approved shortlist. There were almost 1500 votes cast in the public poll on the ACT Government’s YourSay website.
(2) The ACT Place Names Committee considered naming options for the new park including an Indigenous name and the names of men and women. Key criteria for consideration included people who had a proven association with the history of the location, and who contributed to the development of Canberra as the National Capital, with particular reference to central Canberra. In this instance, Dame Sylvia Crowe DBE, was identified by the committee as fitting this criteria in recognition of the significant contribution she made to the design of Commonwealth Park on Lake Burley Griffin.
(3) The ACT Place Names Committee gave detailed consideration to the name ‘Bindermarran’ but was not included in the final shortlist. It is the Committee’s understanding that Bindermarran was the first Aboriginal person to have their name recorded in the English language as being directly associated with Cambray/Canberry. The Committee was unable to substantiate the provenance of the name to ensure the wishes of the relevant Aboriginal community were respected. Importantly, the Committee could not be sure about any cultural sensitivities associated with offering the name to the public. The Committee is intending to further research Bindermarran and to look for suitable opportunities to commemorate his name.
(4) The ACT Place Names Committee did not include the name of an Indigenous person or Indigenous word in the shortlist as available research did not identify suitable names with an established historical association with the location, or names considered suitable for the type and character of the public park being named.
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