Page 1000 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 19 March 2013
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Our 80s and 90s saw the economy turn, with many doing it tough as our reliance on the public sector became all too evident. But we recovered as a city and new opportunities were pursued.
It is also important to acknowledge that some of the greatest difficulties we faced as a community came just a decade ago when a firestorm tore through the forests and grasslands right into our south-western suburbs. The forces of nature on that day caused unprecedented damage. Four people lost their lives and hundreds of properties were lost. This year, we remember those who suffered and lost so much. We also pay tribute to the many charities, businesses, community services and clubs, and the many, many individuals, who helped to get this city back on its feet.
Today there are tens of thousands of people who contribute to our ever-evolving identity, who keep our city running, who give so freely of their time to help others, and who help build better neighbourhoods. These are the Canberrans, past and present, who have left, and will continue to leave, a lasting legacy for our city—our teachers and childcare workers who provide care and guidance for those who will be the future of Canberra; our doctors and nurses who go about their important work quietly in our hospitals and in our suburbs; our police and emergency services personnel, ambulance officers, firefighters, urban and rural, and our wonderful state emergency service volunteers who are always there when the going gets tough; our many charity workers who are there 24/7 to make sure our community’s most needy citizens are fed and the homeless get a roof over their heads; the mums and dads who help out at junior sport, pitching in to run school canteens, provide a helping hand to visitors at Floriade and walk the streets doorknocking for charity like the Salvos Red Shield Appeal; the writers, sculptors, artists and performers; and, similarly, our sporting men and women, who represent us in every sporting code, who helped define our cultural identity. These are all the people that make a great city our capital but also the place we call home.
A 100th birthday for a city is a very young birthday indeed, and any celebration of our past requires us to do what the community leaders did 100 years ago when they laid the foundation stones. They looked forward. Today, 100 years on, we must do the same. The foundations of our city are strong. We are a city which will continue to lead the world in research and be a world-class centre of learning, research, innovation and enterprise—a city which is at the heart and centre of its region, a growing city which is not yet fully built. And it is this city, once the home of a transient population, which has become the place we are proud to call our home.
As we close the book on our city’s first 100 years and acknowledge how far we have come, I have no doubt that our second century will be as good as our first.
Madam Acting Speaker, we are proud of our nation’s capital. We are proud of our home. We are proud of what has been achieved in our first 100 years and we are excited about our next. Today we pay our respects to the federal capital city of Canberra. We pledge to work for a sustainable and peaceful future.
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