Page 2319 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 15 September 1992

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smattering of radio and television broadcasters, aggregation has provided some benefits to us, and one might well ask: Do we need a further station? The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Federal Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories have found that Canberrans spend up to twice as much on arts activities and products as does the average Australian. It is very clear that we are great consumers of arts and arts activities in this Territory. In those circumstances, there is certainly a market for an organisation such as Canberra Stereo Public Radio. It deserves some support.

If that bid is successful it will be great not just for the listeners of the ACT but also for Canberra's artists. Canberra Stereo Public Radio has been a major forum for Canberra artists, be they musicians, poets, playwrights, or producers of material, to have their works heard in public, and that is a very desirable feature of Canberra Stereo Public Radio's activities. You cannot tune in at the moment, of course - - -

Mr Berry: Trust the Liberals to try to mislead us again.

MR HUMPHRIES: If you had tuned in you would have heard jazz, folk, early music, plays, poetry - this is something you do not know much about, Mr Berry, but just listen on - writing, previews and reviews, arts programming for children, arts news and current affairs programs.

Mr Wood: It has had good write-ups in the cultural columns of our newspapers.

MR HUMPHRIES: It has had excellent write-ups, as the Minister points out, and I am sure that he and his colleagues and everybody else in the Assembly will support this bid. Let us hope that the moral suasion to be exerted by members of this Assembly will persuade our friends at the Federal Department of Transport and Communications that Canberra does need another licence and that CSPR should be the winner of that licence.

International Peace Day

MRS GRASSBY (10.30): I do not know whether everybody in the house realises that today is International Peace Day. When we think about this, we must think about the war that is still going on in Yugoslavia. On the news we hear about the horrifying things based on racism that are happening in Germany at the moment and about the many other wars around the world. We must also think about what is happening in South Africa. We thought that they were moving forward and that people were getting their rights, but we are not so sure now.

We should all think about people being able to live in peace in their own country, knowing that they are not going to be bombed or put in gaol or shot because they are participating in a peaceful march. We are very lucky that we live in a country where we know peace. It is a long time since we have had war on our soil. I just remind the house that we should be thinking about how lucky we are and of the people in other parts of the world who are not able to live in the sort of peaceful country that we have.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Assembly adjourned at 10.31 pm


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