Page 86 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 May 1989
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is a very real exercise. We forget the importance of that at our peril. I have come to the conclusion - it was not my original conclusion, but certainly it is now - that pragmatism in politics is not the prescription for long life. We are all missionaries for our vision of society, but something more than just being that is required.
We, in this Assembly, have a need to justify our existence here. The two smaller parties in this Assembly, I am sure, would agree volubly and probably members of the other parties here would agree privately - some more reluctantly - that the people of Canberra are far from convinced at this stage that self-government is necessary for the ACT. That, above all, defines our task in the coming three years. We are, in many people's eyes, not welcome to the privileges and the status of office that we occupy because the benefits to Canberra and Canberrans have not yet been well demonstrated and, at least to the satisfaction of most, that remains to happen.
So we are missionaries, not just for our political philosophies but also very much as advocates for the case for self-government. I believe there are benefits for self-rule. It is up to all of us to demonstrate clearly, articulately and frequently that it is the case. There is some hope in the address from the Chief Minister that it will be possible, that the Government's approach is one that will attempt at least to do that. But I think that the Government will need to go further than merely implementing Labor Party programs.
All Canberrans, including those who voted for anti-self-government parties, will need to feel that they are gaining some benefits from the new arrangements. All parties during the recent - or not so recent - campaign demonstrated certain ideas and presented certain policies and programs in which people in the ACT saw benefit. There is no doubt in my mind that many people voted for pro-self-government parties as opposed to anti-self-government parties because they liked some of the things that they heard and they shared some of the vision that was presented to them. I believe that the Government would do well to implement as many as possible of those good ideas rather than just its own program.
I am a typical Canberran, Mr Speaker. I was not born in Canberra. I think only one of us here was born in Canberra and he sits behind me to my right. I may be mistaken, but I will stand corrected if I am. I came to Canberra 11 years ago to study at the ANU. I was impressed with this city, but I did not immediately take it into my heart as my home. On completion of university, I obtained a job here as a solicitor and I decided to settle down. I found I was becoming bewitched by Canberra's many charms, the first and foremost of which is its magnificent planning, a planning which has left it with a totally unique environment. I am now proud to call myself a citizen of this city.
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