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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1266 ..

Adjournment

Mr Richard Refshauge

MR WOOD (Minister for Urban Services and Minister for the Arts) (5.35): Mr Speaker, I move:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Mr Speaker, I rise to thank the retiring chair of the ACT Cultural Council, Richard Refshauge, for his long and valuable service to the council, indeed to all in the ACT. I am confident that former ministers will agree with my sentiments. As the then minister, I appointed Mr Refshauge to the council in 1992, and subsequently to the position of chair in 1994.

During all those years Mr Refshauge has been a very dedicated, effective and enthusiastic chair. However, he has been active in the arts for much longer than that. As a student he is recorded as holding a spear in some Shakespearean production, though I expect he achieved more on the stage than that. I know that he has performed well on the stage of life. I was interested to find that the ACT division of the one-time Arts Council of Australia records that at the annual general meeting on 24 September 1970 Richard Refshauge was appointed co-convenor of the theatre committee. This same document indicates a very impressive list of events, exhibitions and performances arranged by the council. I expect that Mr Refshauge would have needed some serious credentials to be appointed, so it is clear that he has been actively committed to the arts and to the whole community for a very long time. In a letter to me, he writes:

I am immodest enough to believe I have helped make a difference, strengthening the arts in Canberra and giving it an important profile in the community.

Well, he is really modest. He has done more than help-his depth of experience, his commitment, knowledge, organisational skills and passion for the arts have very definitely made a great difference. On behalf of the ACT community and all in this Assembly, thank you, Richard.

Mr Richard Refshauge

MR HUMPHRIES (Leader of the Opposition) (5.38): Mr Speaker, I rise to associate myself with the sentiments expressed by the Minister for the Arts about Richard Refshauge. I don't recall which of us actually appointed Mr Refshauge originally.

Mr Wood: I did.

MR HUMPHRIES: It was Mr Wood. Certainly I reappointed him I think in 1995 and I had no hesitation in doing so because he was an outstanding chair of the ACT Cultural Council. He know a great deal about the arts in the ACT. He is an enormous consumer of the arts, often still seen at openings of exhibitions, at theatre productions, at concerts and so on, and is always knowledgeable on virtually every aspect of the arts you might care to discuss with him.

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