Page 2549 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021

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Pursuant to standing order 99A, the petition, having more than 500 signatories, was referred to the Standing Committee on Economy and Gender and Economic Equality.

The Clerk having announced that the terms of the petitions would be recorded in Hansard and referred to the appropriate ministers for response pursuant to standing order 100, the petitions were received.

Ministerial responses

The following responses to petitions have been lodged:

Planning—diversity—petition 6-21

By Mr Gentleman, Minister for Planning and Land Management, dated 31 August 2021, in response to a petition lodged by Ms Orr on 2 June 2021 concerning the recognition and representation of women, especially women of diverse backgrounds and First Nation leaders, in place naming and public statues.

The response read as follows:

Dear Mr Duncan

Thank you for your letter of 2 June 2021 providing Petition No 6-21, lodged by Ms Suzanne Orr MLA, concerning the representation of women, especially women of diverse backgrounds and First Nation leaders, recognised in place naming and public statues in the ACT.

The petition calls on the ACT Government to look to promote equality and diversity in the people we recognise through public commemoration; increase the prominence of women in place naming conventions across the Territory; and identify opportunities to increase the representation of women, especially of diverse backgrounds and First Nations leaders in our public statues.

The ACT Place Names Advisory Committee (the committee) provides advice to me about the naming of divisions (suburbs), public places and the commemoration of eminent Australians. The committee shares my commitment for place names which recognise our diverse and inclusive community, both locally and nationally. This aligns with a range of commitments in the ACT with respect to LGBTIQ+ inclusion and visibility.

The Commonwealth holds responsibility for the naming of public places on National land in the ACT and for the commissioning and installation of statues of national significance.

Minister for the Arts, Tara Cheyne MLA, has provided advice to me about the representation of women in the ACT Government’s Public Art Collection and about measures to address the gender imbalance of women as artists and subjects in the collection.

The Public Place Names Act 1989 was amended in 2002 to require consideration of the number of women and men after whom divisions or public places have


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