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The Centenary of the Selection

Canberra Day Oration
National Library of Australia
Wednesday 12 March 2008, 12.30pm

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Acknowledgements

• I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – the Ngunnawal people – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

Other Acknowledgements

• Ms Judy Becker, President, Canberra and District Historical Society
• Andrew Barr MLA representing the Chief Minister.
• Jan Fullerton, Director General of the National Library of Australia
  

Introduction

1. Thank you for your invitation to be here this afternoon to deliver the 2008 Canberra Day Oration.
As Minister responsible for Territories, it is an honour to do so during this centenary of Canberra’s selection as the site of Australia’s national capital.

People’s Capital

3. I could talk about Walter Burley Griffin’s legacy and provide a detailed history of the selection of the location 100 years ago and the genesis of the meaning of ‘Canberra’ as ‘meeting place’ but that is not my intention.
4. Today I wish to reflect on the essence of this special place in the Australian experience focusing on the people that live her and come here.
5. The concentration of talent here and the opportunities the New Government sees to use this talent for the improvement of Australia make Canberra unique.
6. Because Canberra is not just the national Capital it is the centre for a whole lot of national excellence that no other city in Australia can claim to concentrate.
7. Canberra can very deliberately and proudly assert itself as a great centre for thinking in Australia.
8. Even if they don’t live here, the great thinkers, policy makers, innovators and developers will inevitably come to Canberra from time to time because it is the source of our national government - a place of national significance for commerce, industry, law, the arts and all things that make up a society.
9. Recently I noticed the new informative safety fence around the construction site at Kingston foreshore which reproduces a series of photographs including a few of the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York at Canberra Railway station for the opening of the first parliament in the Capital in 1927.
10. This was the beginning of a tradition that Canberra has embraced and continues to welcome as leaders and luminaries are drawn to this small corner of the world.
11. Some of the old photos reproduced on that construction site illustrate a people’s history of Kingston and Canberra and are well worth a look.
12. To mention an event from my own recent experience last week when I had the privilege to meet the Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel of Microsoft Worldwide who came to Canberra specially to assist with the launch of the Child Exploitation Tracking System now being used by the Australian Federal Police.
13. Another recent and extraordinary event is also a very significant part of the experience of people drawn to this place.
14. On the 13th of February our Capital attracted Indigenous Australians from all over the country as the Australian Government said sorry to the stolen generations.
15. It is only really in this place that such a significant national experience can be generated.
16. The history of a nation of people is being lived in Canberra everyday in a way that cannot occur in any other Australian city.
17. It is a true people’s capital where 226 federal politicians come to work and bring with them the hopes, expectations and the histories of all parts of Australia.
18. From the largest electorate to the smallest, each and every member - even the Senators - add to the people’s history of this great place.
19. Canberra is a place of pilgrimage - enthusiastic or reluctant - depending on your viewpoint. But anyone who needs to participate in the cultural, political and intellectual life of this nation will come here sooner or later.
20. Intellectual life is not mutually exclusive from political life by the way.
21. Canberra can be as understated as it can be vibrant. The recent report on the passing of movie personality Jackie Chan’s father, who for many years ran a restaurant in Dixon, demonstrates that even those associated with bright stars may live a full and interesting life in this small but terrific city.
22. The new Government recognises the importance of our national capital Canberra not just at a symbolic level but on a practical level.
23. The Prime Minister chooses to live in Canberra.
24.  I don’t say that to make a cheap political point against the last one, I say it with the conviction that the leader of the new Government acknowledges a responsibility to the nation to reside in its capital.
25. Contrary to the often widely held view in Sydney or Melbourne that Canberra is just a big business park for public servants, the new Government wants to ensure we harness the exceptional talents of the dedicated public servants who fulfil the role of supporting Australian society.

Our Social Capital

26. One might therefore ask - is Canberra our ‘social capital’.
27. In another meaning of the term ‘socialist capital’ is an idea that has been in fashion in recent times.
28. It refers to the connections within and between social networks and has been written about and discussed in the context of  business, economics, organisational behaviour, political science, public health, sociology and natural resources management over a very long time.
29. Canberra is the natural cradle in Australia for harnessing and developing the social capital of this country.
30. In this context it is interesting to recall how we come to be here.
31. It seems that our forefathers had some preconceived ideas that the climate of this part of Australia would encourage a disciplined approach to business, politics and such notions of social capital.
32. I am reliably advised that the Melbourne Convention held for the purpose of considering the new location of the capital city determined the need to “choose a capital with a cold climate….many devoted children of Empire…..believed that they have gained their advantage…..through constant exposure to cool conditions.
    … as Convention delegates sweltered in Melbourne’s summer heat, this belief surfaced with considerable enthusiasm.
    According to the then Premier of Western Australia, Sir John Forrest, Australia needed: “…a new city erected in some suitable place where we could all go in summer.  It ought to be a cool place, indeed, the coolest place in Australia.”

33. Now of course all the Members of Parliament carefully leave Canberra when it is cooler in the sense that Forrest meant it.
34. King O’Malley, one of the first Ministers for Home Affairs certainly wasn’t thining about the modern meaning of cool when he introduced prohibition into early Canberra between 1910 and 1918, nor when waxed lyrical about the regional township of Bombala as (and I quote) “the pivot around which Australian civilisation should revolve…”
35. It would appear that seeking some place cool for our national capital was no easy task.

36. As historian, Gavin Souter, notes: “Before it was over, the process of finding a site for the National Capital involved seven Commonwealth Governments, five New South Wales Governments, two Royal Commissions, nine Commonwealth Ministers for Home Affairs, four lapsed Bills and three Acts of Commonwealth Parliament.”
37. I wish to make clear today; that the Minister for Home Affairs you see before you has no intention of joining those other nine as a victim of protracted decision making.
38. As a seat of Government, the Capital has unique and special status in Australia.
39. Unlike the Northern Territory the Australian Capital Territory cannot seek Statehood and nor should it.
40. Its destiny and purpose are significant in and of themselves.
41. Canberra has the enviable status of being the enviable status of being s unique centre of culture and talent in Australia and the luxury of not being distracted by such ideas.

Canberra – the Community

42. My responsibility for the Capital extends to administrative responsibility for the legislation that creates the Self Government arrangements and the National Capital Authority.
43. Both these institutions are valued and respected by the Government.
44. It seems to me, a long time visitor to and now part-time resident of Canberra that Canberrans are justifiably confident, proud of their city being the national capital for all Australians.
45. Those of you here today know as well as I, that this place attracts many more Australians than any other city of its size by virtue of that significance.
46. It is a privilege to work and reside with people who are dedicated to good governance and bring their many talents to the job.
47. Public service is at the centre of Canberra
48. Government work is true public service. Of course we are remunerated for it and the work has its own rewards but we - and I mean not just politicians but the people who work to implement government policies - choose the work for all those rewards and not for the remuneration alone.
49. It takes a particular kind of person to value quality interesting and challenging work that is aimed at making our country a better place and that’s the quality of people who reside here.
50. Canberrans provide national leadership and the city more than meets the expectations of its founders as a beautiful and dynamic plan where people are encouraged to learn and contribute.
51. But we know that this is just part of the story.

The Government and the Capital

52. The Government has an agenda for the role of Canberra which as the People’s Capital.
53. The Australian Government aims to create a culture of national political cooperation and collaboration – improve relations and refine responsibility between the Commonwealth and the States.
54. One hundred years ago, our forefathers worked together to create the national capital by putting aside their differences – even if reluctantly!
55. The new Australia Government is committed to working with State and Territory Governments and through mechanisms like the 20/20 Summit to identify and resolve the issues before us now.
56. In 1901, scholars Quick and Garran wrote: “During the past century the foundations of Australian nationhood have been laid; with the new century will begin the task of building the superstructure.”  
57. We are now, as Quick and Garran predicted “face to face with the greater and more responsible task of welding into a harmonious whole the elements of national unity, and of guiding the Australian people to their destiny.”
58. We need to get the balance between the Commonwealth’s powers and States’ and Territories’ powers right.
59. We in the National Capital must work together with the states and territories to resolve our environmental, economic and infrastructure needs.
60. The next five years, through to the centenary of the naming of Canberra as Australia’s capital, are an exciting opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the past and our goals and aspirations for the future.
61. As Minister responsible for Territories I look forward to what lies ahead of us and I trust all of you here will do your best to keep the government on track in our role of promoting and preserving all that is great about the National capital and its people.
    

ENDS (approx 1850 words)