Page 2964 - Week 08 - Thursday, 17 August 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Where early intervention can prevent a child from entering care, support will be made available to the child and the birth family to enable this. When this is not possible the focus is on ensuring that the child finds a safe and stable home. When a child is faced with the possibility of being taken under care, no decision is ever taken lightly. This budget enables those decisions to be made with the best interests of the child at heart and for those decisions to be supported with the right services.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Cultural Facilities Corporation—Part 1.8.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (5.36): One of the best things that has ever been done in this territory by a government is to establish the Cultural Facilities Corporation. Even as a government-owned corporation, it operates in a highly entrepreneurial manner, achieving positive and growing outcomes and taking a pragmatic approach to its work. All of this is despite, or perhaps even in spite of, a government whose arts minister has no strategy for growth in the arts sector.
The Cultural Facilities Corporation has a broad remit. It runs the Canberra Theatre Centre, the Canberra Museum and Gallery and some of the ACT’s most iconic heritage landmarks: Lanyon, Calthorpes’ House and Mugga Mugga. It offers a wide range of performing arts events at the Canberra Theatre and the Playhouse, visual arts exhibitions at the Canberra Museum and Gallery—or CMAG—and community-based activities at its heritage sites. It cares for and curates the Nolan collection, the Dawn Waterhouse collection and an ever-expanding collection of artworks and other objects. I note, too, that the former Nolan gallery at Lanyon will become the Lanyon heritage centre and will have exhibition and learning spaces for education and community programs.
Given the history of the Nolan gallery and how it came to be, I was quite critical of its closure during the Seventh Assembly. I know that the late Lady Mary Nolan was very distressed by that closure, even to the point of demanding the return of her works that were on loan. But I am pleased with the respect the corporation has shown the Nolan collection by creating a permanent exhibition space at CMAG. I am also pleased to see that the former Nolan gallery now will be put to some very good use to enhance the visitor experience at Lanyon. This is a testament to the corporation’s vision.
The Cultural Facilities Corporation is well attuned to the matters of cultural interest and works closely with our community through its four community-based advisory committees. As well as its staff, the Cultural Facilities Corporation engages a team of volunteers who make a positive contribution to the visitor experience at the historic places it manages. The corporation tells me that its volunteers enjoy the work they do because it allows them to develop and share knowledge, practical skills and talents and to make sustained friendships.
The dedication of the volunteers contributes to high satisfaction rates for visitors, thus enhancing their tourism experience in Canberra. On top of all that, the Cultural Facilities Corporation is very proactive in contributing to things like the ACT arts
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video