Page 1125 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
bolts” of self-government in this city. During the transition to self-government Mr Turner briefed incoming ministers on their responsibilities. He worked for three decades with the ACT administration under the commonwealth, which would become the ACT government following the transition to self-government.
Mr Turner had a great appreciation for the ACT’s natural environment, and is in many ways responsible for Canberra being labelled the bush capital of Australia. He was instrumental in setting up Floriade, as well as the declaration of Namadgi National Park and the establishment of the parks and conservation service.
Mr Turner had a great passion for this city and clearly enjoyed working to improve the lives of its residents. At the Department of the Interior he enjoyed “working on things that matter in your own city”. When asked about his role as the ACT city manager, he said, as Mr Coe has outlined:
So many public servants work in policy areas that have nothing to do with the city. I enjoy it because I’m working in a job directly relevant to the community in which I live.
Despite his great contribution to our city, Mr Turner’s career as a public servant did not begin in Canberra; rather, he first joined the Department of the Navy in Melbourne as a 15-year-old clerk. He moved to Canberra in 1959 on what was supposed to be a six-month posting. I think that is a quintessential Canberra story. He initially thought of Canberra as a “big country town”, which was probably an apt description of a city which at that time only had 45,000 people. “You went shopping on a Friday night in Kingston and met the entire population,” he said. That may now be Braddon, but that was clearly relevant in his time.
In 1965 he was recruited to the Department of the Interior. In 1987 he became the ACT city manager, and had responsibility for transport policy, roads, traffic management, technical services, public transport, parks and conservation, recreation, housing, and the fire brigade.
From 1988 to 1997 he managed the Department of Urban Services. In this role he had responsibility for 4,400 staff and an annual budget of more than $180 million. In this role Mr Turner also set up the ACT shopfronts, which are now known as Access Canberra. This brought together multiple ACT government services in single offices, with the first opening in Civic in 1988. These were seen as having a big impact on the Canberra community by making it easier for the community to interact with different government agencies. He retired as the Chief Executive of Urban Services in 1997.
Following his retirement he continued to be involved with the Canberra community. Mr Turner was the chair of Cricket ACT and Communities@Work, and is a life member of both organisations. Cricket was a lifelong passion. He played in Melbourne; then for the Manuka-cum-Eastlake Cricket Club.
Mr Turner was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2015 “for significant service to the community through policy
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video