Page 1124 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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especially in the chamber. He was credited with the idea of introducing ACT government shopfronts, which allowed Canberrans to better access ACT government services.
Upon his retirement in 1997, he had left a legacy of providing direct and unfiltered advice throughout his time as a public servant. He was inducted in 2015 as a Member of the Order of Australia.
In his time in the ACT he was involved in the establishment of new payroll systems following the establishment of self-government, a major restructuring of the Department of Urban Services in 1992, and the rollout of Telecom’s CityWide Spectrum service, which involved 11,000 government telephone numbers and 350 locations. He acted as the chief executive of Health and was on the board of the ACT Tourism Commission.
It was reported, on the anniversary of having served 40 years in the public service, that he expressed pride in the speed in which the “remote” commonwealth culture had been replaced with a “parochial” outlook. He was also instrumental in the relocation of the ACT Legislative Assembly to here in the South Building.
A major contribution Mr Turner made to Canberra that was not through the public service was, indeed, through cricket, as the Chief Minister just said. He was a keen cricketer, playing over 200 games in the 1970s and 80s. After his retirement from the public service, he continued to work with Cricket ACT, where he served as a board member from 1997. He became chairman in 2000, a role in which he served until 2010.
Prior to that—many years prior—he was president of East Canberra Cricket Club, now Eastlake. In that capacity he brought a major sponsorship deal to the club in 1978 from Palmdale Insurance. He also secured the lease for the club to use Kingston Oval. He was instrumental in securing funds for much needed upgrades at Manuka Oval, and he was honoured with life membership of Cricket ACT in 2009.
Mr Turner was also an advocate for those in need and spent a large amount of time working with Communities@Work, where he served as chair between 2003 and 2010, and was awarded life membership for his distinguished service.
Mr Turner remains one of the ACT’s most distinguished public servants, as well as a great contributor to our Canberra community. On behalf of the opposition, we join the government in honouring him, and we extend our condolences to his wife Kathryn and his children Richard, Meredith and Philip.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (10.14): On behalf of the ACT Greens, I join my Assembly colleagues in expressing my condolences on the death of John Turner, who played a pivotal role in helping to set up the city of Canberra that we know today. Mr Turner died on 14 February, aged 80.
As has been outlined, Mr Turner worked in public administration for 43 years, becoming Canberra’s city manager, and has been described as setting up the “nuts and
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