Page 2814 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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or Minister Albanese, both of whom I met, along with the Prime Minister. Maybe you could just have a chat to Gary about it and see whether he can exercise some influence on the hill.
Mr Hanson: Who’s Gary? Senator Humphries?
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you.
Mr Barr: That is what everyone in Canberra is asking.
MS GALLAGHER: I think we are all asking that. I did not know that this rather boring subject would get everyone very excited. I have also been to Melbourne, where I participated in discussions about national health reform and, importantly, some of the progress that is being made in this place in the area of health. We are seeing the benefits of some of that work.
I have also—Mr Seselja will be very interested in this—attended a number of tree planting ceremonies at the arboretum, which have been very well attended. The Cypriot President was very impressed; in fact, he was wishing that they, too, had an arboretum. The ACT Boer War Memorial Committee had over 100 people there on Sunday to celebrate the planting of the clanwilliam cedars, a rare and endangered tree from South Africa. We had a planting of over 70 trees there which will, in time, be a spectacular forest of clanwilliam cedars over seven metres tall.
I am enjoying the new role. I do not want to let it go and I do not intend to.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Porter, a supplementary question?
MS PORTER: Yes, thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Chief Minister, what other meetings have you had since you became Chief Minister and have they contributed positive outcomes for the ACT?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Ms Porter for the supplementary question. I have also attended and welcomed delegates from the 2011 National General Assembly of Local Government meetings, which is where we had around 800 local government mayors, councillors and council staff from across Australia who came here to talk around issues of regional development in particular, and of course issues that are very pertinent to matters here in the territory. It was a great opportunity to talk with them about some of the challenges that we are dealing with here—indeed, how we manage our regional role, but dealing with issues such as waste, the construction and maintenance of roads and infrastructure. They are all matters which the local council association are dealing with on different scales in their own jurisdictions.
I have been very pleased to attend a number of community events, including launching the Red Shield appeal, attending the Asthma Foundation launch, the Prostate Cancer Support Group event, Diabetes, and the Heart Foundation event. I have had a number of meetings, including with Gail Kelly from Westpac, talking around investments here in the territory. I have been out to have a look at the dam, to see how the dam is progressing, and it is progressing on time and on budget. I have
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