Page 4537 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 31 October 2018
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inpatient services report, and I look forward to a collaborative, collegiate response to addressing the needs of people with mental health issues in the ACT.
Amendment agreed to.
Original question, as amended, agreed to.
Tharwa bridge
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (12.12): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes:
(a) the enormous contribution Mr Val Jeffery made to the Tharwa community and Canberra itself;
(b) Mr Jeffery’s decisive actions during the catastrophic bushfires of 2003 that were considered instrumental in saving Tharwa community;
(c) his passionate advocacy for the local bridge including retention of the existing structure and his campaign to have the bridge reopened; and
(d) his significant contribution in preserving the character of Tharwa; and
(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) provide a substantial tribute to Val Jeffery reflecting a cause that he was passionately committed to; and
(b) ensure that such a tribute take the form of renaming the Tharwa Bridge as the Val Jeffery Bridge in recognition of his tireless effort in support of this iconic structure.
This motion seeks to provide a lasting testament to the memory of Val Jeffery and a significant tribute to the tireless contributions he made to our community. Time flies with frightening velocity, Madam Speaker; you and I both know that. Members will recall that it was little more than a year ago that we stood in this chamber to move a condolence motion to mourn the loss of Val Jeffery, a much-loved figure in this Assembly from his short time here but more so from his time as a strong community member and agitator and someone who lived life to the full. We reflected on his life, his achievements and his passionate commitment to community issues in Tharwa and to the ACT generally.
Val’s sense of civic obligation created a prominent figure on our social and community landscape, and it is fair to say that the interests and needs of the community far outweighed his own personal interests in the way that he pursued them. When I look back on all the things that Val Jeffery achieved, I often wonder how on earth he fitted it in. He was the sort of bloke who could put just as much energy into his business and his family interests as he could into his community activities, of which there were many.
Val was never prepared to sit back and accept things the way they were. He could not do that, and he was prepared to stubbornly challenge the government and MLAs of all
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