Page 764 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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you whip down and have a look at David, mate? I think it will prove to be the most fascinating travel report ever—Brendan Smyth’s formal report on a trip to Florence to talk about Canberra’s centenary, during which he advised an international audience of his perspective and what it is that he will be bringing. Actually, I think it was a conference for other cities that are having their bicentenaries et cetera, and Mr Smyth was lecturing on the lessons to be learned from Canberra’s centenary celebrations. Could you circulate your speech on the lessons that Rome or Athens might take for their 2,000-year celebrations from the Canberra experience, Mr Smyth? (Time expired.)
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hargreaves?
MR HARGREAVES: Apart from “Mr West End’s” theory on having a gondola from the airport to the city, I would like to know, given that the 2010 Canberra Festival is only two weeks away, what the community can expect from this year’s festival.
MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Mr Hargreaves.
Mrs Dunne: A point of order, Mr Speaker, Mr Hargreaves’s original question was about the centenary, and his supplementary question is about the Canberra Festival. While there is a link, it is out of order, because it does not relate to the subject matter of the first question.
Mr Hargreaves: On the point of order, I neglected to provide the link between those, and I may, with your indulgence, do that. I wanted to know how, in fact, we can excite the people of Canberra towards our centenary in 2013 by using something like the Canberra Festival that is coming up.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you for the clarification, Mr Hargreaves. Chief Minister.
MR STANHOPE: I thank Mr Hargreaves for his question. It is an amazingly puerile point of order. It really does raise a question about just how interested the Liberal Party are in the centenary and, indeed, in the celebration of our annual birthday. We are moving now to our 97th birthday celebration, and, of course, our 97th birthday celebration is very relevant to the program that we are developing for our centenary.
I have to say that, in a consciousness of how important it is that we do develop programs and work with the community to ensure our centenary celebrations really are a wonderful celebration of this community and what this community has achieved over a century, we are seeking through each of the next three birthdays as we head to 2013 to actually build a program that will, through the Canberra Festival, achieve just that.
This year the Canberra Festival, the celebration of our 97th birthday as a city, begins on 6 March and runs through until 14 March. Over those nine days, it will showcase Canberra’s special qualities through a whole range of activities. Indeed, I think there are 50-plus events now organised by the government and the community in partnership. We do expect, once again, that the highlight will be the celebrate in the park event, and we have, of course, arranged again the balloon spectacular, just for Mr Smyth.
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