Page 1509 - Week 05 - Friday, 10 May 2019
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I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging, and in doing so also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people’s culture and continuing contribution to the life of this city and this region.
Madam Speaker, the ACT has been a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia for 108 years. We have been self-governing, as we are celebrating today, for 30 years. The Legislative Assembly has been in this building for around 25 years. But this is just our very recent history. We should always remember that this land has been an important place for people to meet, exchange and celebrate for tens of thousands of years.
Earlier this year, the territory government signed the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement with our elected body. This agreement lays out our joint vision and framework for recognising Australia’s First Peoples and for respecting and supporting their right to self-determination and equality of opportunity.
Later today a possum skin cloak made by 16 strong Ngunnawal women and elders, led by Elder Tina Brown, will be permanently displayed outside the entrance to this Assembly chamber. This is an important symbol of reconciliation and respect between the Ngunnawal people, the Legislative Assembly and the people of many different backgrounds and cultures who form the ACT community. On behalf of the ACT government and the Legislative Assembly, members and the people of Canberra, we are humbled and thankful to receive this gift and would like to express our deep gratitude to the Ngunnawal women who contributed to the cloak.
Madam Speaker, many younger Canberrans may not believe that ACT self-government is a relatively new concept. In 1989 it was a hotly contested move towards proper democratic representation for this city’s residents. For most of us old-timers, though, it does not seem that long ago that a unilateral decision by the commonwealth thrust self-government upon a somewhat sceptical and certainly bemused Canberra.
Despite this, Canberrans chose to engage with self-government in a uniquely Canberra way: by running for elected office in record numbers on a wide array of platforms, including the abolition of the very institution being created. Ballot papers rarely match the one handed to voters in that first ACT election. It contained 117 candidates from 22 parties, some with party names that will forever remain in democratic folklore.
The establishment of this Assembly was tumultuous. After taking two months to determine the election result under that wonderful modified D’Hondt electoral system, the members and the parties were given less than a week to decide who would form government, necessitating a hastily constructed coalition.
Governing coalitions, of course, have been the norm rather than the exception in the intervening years. The nearly 2,100 bills passed by this place have generally been better for this. In an early sign of the nation-leading progressive approach that has
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