Page 609 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 May 1992
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Wednesday, 20 May 1992
______________________
MADAM SPEAKER (Ms McRae) took the chair at 10.30 am and read the prayer.
GRAZING ON RED HILL
MR HUMPHRIES (10.30): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) acknowledges the contribution made to the Territory rural and administrative heritage by one of its true pioneers, Mr Charles Russell, 87, and his forebears;
(2) notes that Mr Russell's family have been grazing livestock on Red Hill since 1920;
(3) notes that Mr Russell's grazing activities significantly reduce the bushfire danger to Red Hill residents;
(4) notes that Mr Russell's grazing activities help keep down the level of vandalism of fences, water troughs and ACTEW equipment on Red Hill;
(5) notes the heritage and tourist value of having livestock graze within sight of the Parliamentary Triangle;
(6) expresses concern that Mr Russell has experienced difficulties in coming to amicable and suitable arrangements with the Minister responsible for land management, Mr Wood, and his officials, in regard to grazing livestock on Red Hill;
(7) condemns as unnecessary the language and tone used in some letters sent by the Department of Environment, Land and Planning to Mr Russell; and
(8) calls on the Minister to seek a more realistic resolution to Mr Russell's difficulties which satisfies both Mr Russell and the reasonable requirements of the Territory's administration.
Madam Speaker, today the Opposition has raised a motion concerning the grazing of cattle on Red Hill by one particular very aged and, I would say, honourable member of the ACT community, Mr Charles Russell. Mr Russell is a bright 87-year-old who is part and parcel of the land, particularly on Red Hill, but in another sense, in a very real sense, in the whole of Canberra. He is one of Canberra's true pioneers, a real Canberra cocky; a person whose family was grazing sheep and cattle on the Limestone Plains before Canberra was a city. He is not quite as old as Red Hill, but he is certainly getting in that direction.
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