Page 5273 - Week 14 - Thursday, 19 November 2009

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


profits into commonwealth consolidated revenue. Jim believed that this deprived Canberrans of ongoing advantage, and it was a matter of great and continuing regret to him.

Jim was patron of many sporting groups and had particular interests in AFL and hockey. We have heard about Jim’s involvement in the setting up of the Territorial newspaper. It is interesting to note that for a short time before the Territorial became the Australian, Canberra was indeed a two-paper town.

In January 1972, Mr Pead was awarded an MBE for his contribution to Canberra. Jim’s sons tell me that all of this service was performed on a part-time basis on a modest honorarium that at one stage rose to the princely sum of $360 a month. When Jim retired in 1986, he moved to the Gold Coast, where he resided until his death last Sunday.

When I first came to Canberra in 1979, Jim was still involved in public life. I came to know him, but I came to know the Pead family principally through Jim’s son Tony. Tony sang at my wedding and has been a family friend ever since. Not surprisingly, given his pedigree, Tony was an expert on the 2½ degrees of separation in Canberra and could always regale you with a boyhood story about any old Canberra identity you cared to identify. I also knew Gary as the newsagent in the early years of the Kaleen group centre. The other Pead children that I know live further afield. Judy lived the peripatetic life of a diplomat but has recently settled in London, while Rod has been writing and publishing in London for many years.

Jim’s contribution to Canberra has been an extraordinary one, for both the length and the diversity of his service. It is my personal hope that as a community we can mark the service in a more tangible way beyond the state funeral so generously offered by the Chief Minister. Such things need to be worked out in consultation with Jim’s children. As we say “Vale Jim Pead”, I offer my personal condolences to Gary, Judy, Tony, Rod and Tas at the time of their loss. They can be consoled by the manner of Jim’s death and the knowledge of the great contribution their father made to this city that we all call home.

Question resolved in the affirmative, members rising in their places.

Rates and Land Tax Amendment Bill 2009

Ms Gallagher, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.

Title read by Clerk.

MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Health and Minister for Industrial Relations) (10.23): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

The Rates and Land Tax Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 is a bill to amend the Rates Act 2004, the Land Tax Act 2004 and the Land Titles (Unit Titles) Act 1970 in four respects.


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