Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4938 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

Rosemary Follett was the first Chief Minister to attend to that task. There have been two other Chief Ministers in the eight years of this Assembly. Rosemary Follett was a great choice for Canberra. This city was very fortunate that she was the first Chief Minister and Chief Minister for more than half of the period of self-government. I believe that Rosemary had a mixture of vision and prudence. They combined well for a very sensible yet progressive government that suited Canberra well. Along with that, her dedication and determination enabled events to move along as evenly as they can when you work in a minority government. Time will show that she was a great choice for the first Chief Minister. She worked extremely well for this city, and I would like to make some acknowledgment of that tonight.

MR KAINE (12.33 am): This is an interesting place, is it not? I remember when those few of us who were here in 1989 came together and struggled to get the First Assembly actually moving. I remember the first few weeks, when we were invited by Clyde Holding to occupy some offices in 1 Constitution Avenue, even though we had not then been elected. A very limited number of people in that group had been members of the previous House of Assembly. Rosemary was one, Paul Whalan was another, and I was the third. We have seen Paul long since go about other business, and now Rosemary is moving on to discover that there is life after politics.

I suppose that leaves me in the unique position that I am the only one of that original group of 1989 who remains today as a member of this body. Of course, we have been joined since by Greg Cornwell and Harold Hird, who were both there in the old days too. Some of you may or may not know that Rosemary was appointed to the old House of Assembly to fill a casual vacancy. I think it was when Maureen Horder left to go to Sydney. Rosemary sat in the old House of Assembly for about two years before it disappeared, was dissolved, or whatever the proper word is.

I have had the experience of working with Rosemary for a long time. I had the experience of working with her when I was Leader of the Opposition and she had been elected Chief Minister with a small minority government. The Labor Party had one more member than we did, so they won government in 1989. I worked with her again when I was Chief Minister and she was Leader of the Opposition, again when she was Chief Minister and I was Leader of the Opposition again, and in various other capacities on committees and in many other ways. I have to say that during all of those years Rosemary and I have scarcely had a heated argument or disagreement about anything, despite the fact that our politics are quite different. I think that says something about Rosemary. She is a person who is willing to discuss issues. We have not always agreed but we have always talked issues through, even though we have been on different sides of the house.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .