Page 1227 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 August 1989
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MR JENSEN (11.47), in reply: Mr Speaker, I will try to be brief in my closing comments on this motion, as I note that time is awasting and this matter clearly has bipartisan support from all present. As I listened to the speeches from members talking to this issue today, it was quite clear that I barely touched on some aspects of the arts in the community. That, I guess, is indicative of the diverse nature of the arts community in our fair city. In fact, this motion provides for an assessment of the arts community from the outside, which I think is important.
There are three broad categories of culture. There is the "high" culture of the galleries, theatres and opera performances, and I should add that the adjective "high" is a term that they use and not one that I use. There is "popular" culture which my colleague Dr Kinloch has referred to and Minister Grassby has referred to as well. And there is the "avant-garde", an area which may not always be well understood or appreciated but which is just as vital and necessary.
I notice Mr Humphries' concerns about the expanded nature of the inquiry and the degree of areas that the motion provides to be covered. But while noticing his concerns, I would suggest that anything less than a wide-ranging review provides only a limited assessment of the cultural needs of the community. That, in fact, is really what the arts community and the people in the arts community that I have spoken to are concerned about.
I note the words of advice from the Chief Minister, and I am sure that the members of the committee will take those on board, and also the comments by my colleague Dr Kinloch in relation to film, which is something that I do not get to see much these days. I tend to rely on the odd movie on that terrible square screen. I commented on what was happening at Tuggeranong, and I must refer to that in relation to the Chief Minister's tone, because I detected a form of rebuke for the fact that I raised that particular issue. I raised Tuggeranong in that way, Mr Speaker, in the same way as the Chief Minister raised the lack of cultural facilities in the area in which she lives. It is an area that I have some interest in and some involvement in, but it was just an example of the nature of the need for a proper assessment of the arts community in the ACT.
I also noticed with great interest the commitment by the Chief Minister to the cultural facilities on the section 19 site and the time factor as it relates to the proposals for section 19, which the Government is currently seeking to develop. I trust that the Government will not take this opportunity of time to bulldoze through what they perceive is required. In fact, the whole aim of this particular motion is to ensure that that does not happen, and that what does get developed as the major cultural centre of the city takes into account all aspects of the arts community in the ACT - and not just the arts community, of course, but the people of the ACT, those who visit here, those from
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