Page 1061 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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with water, water policy and water engineering in our city. I met him the day before he died—him and his colleagues—to discuss issues around the Water2WATER proposal. As always, I found him to be both patient and constant in his advice and explanation in response to all the questions I sent his way. Ultimately, I came away again impressed by his significant understanding and his ability to engage not just at a surface level in issues around water policy and the water recycling proposal, but more broadly about how as a city we manage water: how we do so behaviourally, but also how we do so in an engineering sense and in a planning sense. Aspi was someone who clearly understood these issues in a great level of detail.
Aspi’s willingness to answer questions, no matter how mundane, was one of his great strengths. As other members have said, his ability to communicate his deep understanding of these policy matters in a way which was straightforward and easily understandable was something which we will miss as we continue the very significant and serious debate for our city about how we secure our future water supplies.
Clearly we have lost a passionate and committed Canberran. Aspi is one of those ordinary citizens of our city who, through their knowledge and life experience, make a significant contribution not just in a public sense but in a deeper and more private sense in terms of everyone they meet and deal with in our community. We have lost someone who has made a significant contribution to the public policy debate and someone who will be difficult to replace. I join with other members in extending my sincere condolences to his wife, Chiew, his daughter, Frena, and his family, friends and colleagues.
Question resolved in the affirmative, members standing in their places.
Petition
The following petition was lodged for presentation, by Dr Foskey, from 48 residents:
Griffith library
To the speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory
This petition of certain residents of the Australian Capital Territory draws to the attention of the Assembly our following concerns:
The AEC Group’s Report into ACT Library Services dated September 2006; The subsequent closure of Griffith Library in December 2006;
Suggestions in the Report that library opening hours, staff, book stock, space and services be cut; and
The closures of the new Civic library – due to heavy rain damage – shortly after it opened in December 2006 (and for 2 months after February 2007).
Your petitioners therefore request the Assembly to:
Ensure that better building standards be enforced for public buildings;
Reopen a new library in Canberra’s inner-south suburbs;
Maintain and extend ACT public library staff, hours, stock, and services;
Reject the commissioned Report into ACT Library Services; and
Initiate a wider ACT Government inquiry – with full community involvement –
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