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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (23 October) . . Page.. 4066 ..
MRS CROSS
(continuing):civilised manner, they will understand that we have our own approach to things. That is something I know.
The sister city relationship issue has caused me great concern, given that it was the Chief Minister's Department that partly funded a visit by Mr Bruce Sinclair last year-when I took my study trip to East Timor. We were both there for the same reasons. My trip was funded through my study leave; his was partly funded by Engineers Australia and the Chief Minister's Department.
We both prepared reports, the ultimate point being to develop the sister city relationship with the ACT. Our moral obligation is to East Timor-and it is decades old-not to Baghdad.
MR SPEAKER
: The member's time has expired.Mrs Cross
: Can I have an extension?MR SPEAKER
: Not in the adjournment debate-not routinely, anyway.Mrs Cross
: I've said most of it.MR SPEAKER
: You can ask for an extension. It is up to members.MRS CROSS
: [Extension of time granted.] If we are to use the reason of moral obligation, our moral obligation for decades has been to East Timor. East Timor is a very poor country. East Timor does not have the rich natural resources of Iraq. Recently, Xanana Gusmao came out and asked us-not in a begging way, but in a soft, pleading way-to offer help to restructure their country in the health area and the education area.They are the very things the Chief Minister referred to earlier today as the reasons he felt there should be a sister city relationship between Canberra and Baghdad. Let's explore that in the future if we need to. There are other very wealthy countries at the moment that are helping Baghdad rebuild. Our immediate moral obligation is to our nearest neighbour, a country that is very poor. It is a pity to use Baghdad to score political brownie points rather than prioritise where the need is far greater, which is East Timor.
I applaud the government's assistance via grants to the multicultural community. The former Chief Minister, Kate Carnell, who was loved and admired in the multicultural community, started the Office of Multicultural Affairs. It has been run quite well by Mr Nic Manikis and assisted most recently now by Mr Hans Bolshoi. I must applaud Mr Bolshoi's tactful and diplomatic way of approaching the Multicultural Council's two attempts at an AGM recently.
I will end by saying that in a perfect world the major parties would stop using this issue to snipe and score political points against each other and instead work together in a proactive manner to address the problems that the Multicultural Council is suffering at the moment. It comes down to a matter of balance. Mr Pratt, as the opposition multicultural spokesperson, has good intentions in this regard. I have tried very hard for many months, and I believe the Chief Minister is also genuinely concerned about the
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