Page 2253 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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I have recently written to the Place Names Committee to ask them to consider options for the renaming of the road and to provide recommendations back to me. I expect that I will be in a position to formally rename the road following the conclusion of the duplication of the road which has been announced by government to improve connections between Belconnen and Gungahlin.
In concluding, I would like to thank the directorate and the committee for their work in undertaking this review and I appreciate their ongoing attention in implementing all recommendations of the review within the next 12 months.
MS ORR (Yerrabi) (3.56): When Ms Cody first moved the motion I spoke about a particular road in my electorate of Yerrabi. I am very encouraged today to hear Minister Gentleman’s remark that that particular road between Gungahlin and Belconnen will be renamed.
As members of this place are quite aware, I grew up in Giralang and I have travelled along this road for as long as I can remember, sometimes on a daily basis. I am quite confident that everyone in the Belconnen parts of Yerrabi who would be using this road on a regular basis would support the changing of the name, knowing that it removes the trauma of victims who also have to use this road.
I am making a conscious choice not to refer to it because I am quite glad that we are moving on and we are going to change that name. It is no longer going to cause trauma to people. I am confident that people in Yerrabi—in Giralang and McKellar, the people who use this road every day—will embrace this change, knowing that it is the right thing to do, knowing that it recognises the full history of the person who was first given this honour, and knowing that, with the evidence now at hand, and the consciousness we have, particularly around victims of sexual trauma, sexual violence and the trauma they face, it is not the right thing to bestow the honour on this person of naming a road after them.
I am glad it is changing. I thank the minister for his direction on this, and I thank Ms Cody for first bringing the issue to the Assembly.
MS CODY (Murrumbidgee) (3.58): I cannot believe that I am actually emotional about this, when I have not been through the trauma that many others have. I would like to thank Mr Gentleman and his directorate for their good work on this issue. I would especially like to acknowledge the work of any public servants who have been exposed to the shouty and abusive behaviour that this debate has brought out in some people. One of the best points Mr Gentleman made is the importance of respecting victims and having a respectful debate. These are difficult topics.
For many Australians, their sense of identity is drawn from Australian history. They seek to be proud of their forebears, without accepting the responsibility for the bad along with the glory of the good. As a city, our place names reflect a version of history that often does just that—trumpeting the glory of the good deeds whilst ignoring the crimes and misdeeds of the past; telling only half the story; condemning our grandchildren to repeat the mistakes of our grandparents.
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