Page 1400 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 April 2019
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Memorial as often as I would like to. I have been there in recent years. I do not need to be as ostentatious about it, as Mr Hanson does. I do not seek to go around beating my chest talking about how many times I have been there. It does not mean I have not. It simply means that I choose a different path to Mr Hanson. I feel much more comfortable with my approach than I do with Mr Hanson’s.
That said, I note the Chief Minister’s amendment. We will not be supporting it.
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, enough!
MR RATTENBURY: We actually do not disagree with the point that the Chief Minister makes. The ACT government should engage with the federal government. There should be ongoing discussions. We want to have a role. But the fact that the Chief Minister’s amendment deletes factual observations in our motion means that we cannot support the amendment in its current form. The Chief Minister could have made that point. It is one that I acknowledge. I have no doubt that in my role as a minister, cabinet will have some of these discussions.
I am certainly concerned about issues such as the proposal—at this stage it is only media reports; so I have not formed a final judgement on it—of needing to use land across Treloar Crescent into the Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve area. I am very concerned about those issues. Having not seen any detailed proposal, I will not form a definitive position on it. But they are areas that we will be concerned about in this discussion. I certainly agree with the Chief Minister that we need to engage with the federal government on what they have in mind, because there are local issues of relevance to this city and to my electorate that we will want to take a view on.
I conclude by making several points: first, we do need a long-term plan for our cultural institutions. They need secure long-term funding. That will be good for this city; that will be good for this nation. I am very pleased and optimistic on my initial read of the report by the federal parliamentary committee that was released late yesterday. I think that there are some good recommendations in it. Whoever is the government after the coming federal election, I trust that they will look at those recommendations very closely and take the opportunity to provide a better pathway for our national institutions than the uncertain funding pattern we have seen in recent years.
Second, I have been clear today about my views on the War Memorial. We think that it is an important national institution. We do not think that the volume of expansion that is proposed is the right answer going forward. We think that there are better pathways for that institution to perform the very important role it serves for our community.
Question put:
That the amendment be agreed to.
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