Page 923 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 26 July 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Wednesday, 26 July 1989
_______________________
MR SPEAKER (Mr Prowse) took the chair at 10.30 am and read the prayer.
ABSENCE OF ACTING CLERK
MR SPEAKER: I wish to inform the Assembly that due to the unavoidable absence of the Acting Clerk during today's sitting, Mr Pender, a senior officer of the House of Representatives will act as Clerk of the Assembly.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A CASINO - SELECT COMMITTEE
Report
MR HUMPHRIES (10.31): Mr Speaker, I present the report of the Select Committee on the Establishment of a Casino, together with dissenting reports from Mr Jensen and Mr Stevenson and copies of the minutes of the proceedings. I move:
That the recommendations be agreed to.
I present to the Assembly the report of the select committee. It is one of the most significant reports handed down to date by any committee of the Assembly to date. It addresses an issue which, to some sections at least of this community, is of great importance and indeed is something of a test for fledgling self-government in this Territory.
One of the most bitter and contentious elements of the Federal Government's announcement in early 1987, that it would build a casino in Canberra as part of a hotel-retail development on section 19 in Civic, was the fact that this decision was made by a Federal Minister with no accountability to the people of the ACT, whose electorate was hundreds of miles distant, and whose priorities appeared to be altogether different from those of residents of the ACT.
It was for this fundamental reason that my party joined with others in the Assembly to support the resolution establishing a select committee and providing an opportunity, for the first time, for the people's elected representatives to assess whether the Federal Government's priorities match those of the ACT. It is the committee's opinion, Mr Speaker, that those respective priorities are, to a large extent, compatible.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .