Page 58 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 7 April 1992
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RESPONSIBLE AND STABLE GOVERNMENT
Inaugural Speeches
MR DE DOMENICO (8.00): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to move a motion regarding government in the ACT.
Leave granted.
MR DE DOMENICO: I move:
That this Assembly endorses the principles of responsible and stable government in the ACT.
Madam Speaker, let me first of all congratulate you on your election as Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly. It is a most important position, and I am sure that you will undertake your duties fairly. I also congratulate you, Ms Follett, on your election as Chief Minister; you, Mr Kaine, on your election as Leader of the Opposition; and you, Mr Cornwell, on your election as Deputy Speaker. In fact, all members need to be congratulated on their election to the Assembly, for, whatever our persuasion, we all are here to achieve our visions of a better Canberra.
I personally intend to respect the ceremony of this important occasion by trying to avoid overt politics - and perhaps the operative word is "trying". I agree with my Federal colleague, the Federal Member for Higgins, Peter Costello, when he said:
If we, the guardians of this great parliamentary institution do not properly discharge our duties we betray our past, we compromise our future and we let down those who have placed their trust in us.
It is on this, and my love for Canberra, that I now wish to speak. As I drove in this morning along the Tuggeranong Parkway I thought about what I would say here tonight in my maiden speech. Even with the drenching rain, I had to admire the country around me. From our home in Gowrie every day I see the slumbering hulk of the Brindabella Mountains; in the winter I see the delight of snow.
As I drive to work I pass cyclists on bike paths which weave through green suburbs camouflaged by parks, and avenues of trees and open spaces. The roads are well planned and maintained, and I get to work within 20 minutes, usually - even on a rainy day and with a bus strike. The city is clean; there is little pollution; beautiful buildings are surrounded by trees dressed in autumn colours. I am sure I am like every other Canberran, in fact, when I think for the zillionth time that this must be the best place in Australia in which to live.
I know that many people in Canberra felt that self-government would mean the withdrawal of many of these benefits of living in Canberra; but today I would like to take the opportunity to argue the reverse. Madam Speaker, self-government, in fact, is absolutely essential if we are to maintain the things we love and cherish about Canberra. It is not good enough to leave the management of our home to 12 remote and disinterested Commonwealth departments, or, dare I say it, one remote Minister who does not live in Canberra and could not give a hang about what happens to Canberra.
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