DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY HANSARD 13 December 2001 Thursday, 13 December 2001 Death of Sir Gordon Freeth KBE......................................................................... 191 Death of Ms Helen Leonard................................................................................. 193 Standing orders— proposed select committee...................................................... 198 Community Services and Social Equity— standing committee ............................ 203 Community Services and Social Equity— standing committee ............................ 219 Sitting pattern...................................................................................................... 220 Legal Affairs— standing committee .................................................................... 221 Questions without notice: Poker machines ............................................................................................ 222 2000-2001 operating result........................................................................... 223 Nurses strike................................................................................................. 224 Year 10 students........................................................................................... 227 Road safety .................................................................................................. 228 Special teaching assistance for disabled students .......................................... 229 Education funding ........................................................................................ 230 Proposed charcoal plant................................................................................ 231 Dual occupancy............................................................................................ 232 Minister for Urban Services— media releases .............................................. 233 Disabled students ......................................................................................... 234 Periodic Detention Centre ............................................................................ 235 Needle exchange program ............................................................................ 236 ACTTAB ..................................................................................................... 237 Latham Primary School................................................................................ 238 Personal explanation............................................................................................ 238 Papers.................................................................................................................. 238 Consolidated annual financial statement .............................................................. 239 Appropriation variation ....................................................................................... 239 Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission........................................ 239 Community contributions made by gaming machine licensees............................. 241 Papers.................................................................................................................. 244 Indigenous education— performance report ........................................................ 244 Future directions of Urban Services and the Arts (Ministerial statement)............. 246 Future directions of Education, Youth and Family Services, Planning and Industrial Relations (Ministerial statement)............................................ 249 Consultation on 2002-03 budget (Ministerial statement)...................................... 261 Appropriation Bill 2001-2002 (No 2) .................................................................. 265 Financial Management Amendment Bill 2001 (No 4).......................................... 274 Drugs of Dependence Amendment Bill 2001 (No 2)............................................ 278 ACTION Authority Amendment Bill 2001 .......................................................... 280 Adjournment: Valedictory................................................................................................... 281 Death of Mr David Branson.......................................................................... 282 Death of Mr David Branson.......................................................................... 283 Release of Mr Peter Bunch and Ms Diana Thomas ....................................... 284 Valedictory : Death of Mr David Branson ................................................... 284 Schedules of amendments: Financial Management Amendment Bill 2001 (No 4)................................... 287 Answers to questions: Junk mail (Question No 1)............................................................................ 289 Toilets in public areas (Question No 2) ........................................................ 290 Woden town centre (Question No 3) ............................................................ 291 Aged-care facilities (Question No 4) ............................................................ 292 Nursing homes and retirement villages (Question No 8)............................... 296 Development approvals (Question No 10).................................................... 297 Toilets in public areas (Question No 13)....................................................... 299 Territory-owned corporations (Question No 18) ........................................... 300 Litter bins (Question No 21)......................................................................... 302 Helicopter transportation (Question No 22).................................................. 303 Public libraries (Question No 23) ................................................................. 304 Environment ACT— switchboard operations (Question No 24) ................... 305 Thursday, 13 December 2001 The Assembly met at 10.30 am. (Quorum formed.) MR SPEAKER (Mr Berry) took the chair and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory. Death of Sir Gordon Freeth KBE MR STANHOPE (Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for Community Affairs and Minister for Women): I move: That the Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of Sir Gordon Freeth KBE, a former Minister for the Interior and Works, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement. Mr Speaker, it is with much sadness that we have learned of the recent death of Sir Gordon Freeth in November of this year. Sir Gordon Freeth was born in Angaston, South Australia, on 6 August 1914. He attended Sydney Church of England Grammar School, before moving to Guildford Grammar in Western Australia. He graduated in law from the University of Western Australia in 1938, the same year that he rowed in the winning Australian four at the Sydney Empire Games. During the next year, he married and set up as a barrister and solicitor in Western Australia. In 1942, he became a pilot for the RAAF, flying Beauforts in New Guinea, and he was a flight lieutenant by the time he was demobilised in 1945. After the war he became prominent in local affairs. This led to his subsequent election to the House of Representatives in 1949 as a member for the seat of Forrest. He held this seat until the 1969 federal election. He was appointed Australian Ambassador to Japan from 1970 to 1973, and was then High Commissioner in London from 1977 to 1980. Sir Gordon was created a Knight of the British Empire in the New Year’s honours list of 1978. He died at the age of 87 in Western Australia, on 27 November 2001. His association with the ACT was as a politician, as a minister and as a member of the Menzies, Holt and Gorton governments. That association was heightened from 1958 to 1963, when he was Minister for the Interior and Works. In this role he was responsible for the Australian Capital Territory. In 1958, he took over the role of Minister for the Interior just after the legislation establishing the National Capital Development Corporation was passed. The expectation at the time was that the Minister for the Interior should live in Canberra. Although his family stayed on in Western Australia, he fulfilled this expectation by taking a flat in the city and declaring Canberra as his principal residence. He was also noted for following Sir Paul Hasluck’s example of acquiring a small runabout car to use for private business, even though he was entitled to an official car at all times. This adherence to principle must have caused him a headache or two. The story 191 13 December 2001 is that, apparently, staff at the car registration testing station recognised the minister’s car when it came through, and took delight in faulting it. Consequently, it rarely got through on the first check. During his lifetime, Sir Gordon saw Canberra develop way beyond anything he imagined when he was Minister for the Interior and Works. As the Minister for the Interior, he called for a departmental paper on the likely implications of a transfer of municipal-type responsibilities to a locally elected body. In his capacity as Minister for Works he also called for a similar paper from the ACT director of works. An internal Department of the Interior paper, Self-Government for the Australian Capital Territory: A Progress Report and Exploratory Study, prepared by Sir Gordon’s private secretary in August 1968, notes that he asked