Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

On 29 April, I joined with others in the shire community to celebrate the 240th anniversary of Cook’s landing at Kurnell. In less than 10 years, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s landing at Kurnell and this will be a significant milestone in our nation’s history. Indeed, Kurnell is the birthplace of modern Australia. The aim is to make 29 April 2020 the most significant national celebration since our bicentenary. We have 10 years of opportunity before us and there is much to be gained by getting started as early as we can. You could be forgiven for thinking that Cook’s landing place at Kurnell in my electorate of Cook would be a national sanctuary, but anyone who has visited the site and the Kurnell Peninsula more generally knows differently. In 2005, Cook’s landing site was placed on the National Heritage List thanks primarily to the work of my predecessor, the Hon. Bruce Baird. We must now ensure the site is upgraded to match its national significance by this important national milestone of the 250th anniversary.

At present, international visitors and many in this place fly over Kurnell but few visit. School children come here to our national parliament to see how a democracy works, but few ever make it to Kurnell to see where our modern national story began. Cook’s landing place today is a collection of tired monuments and stale exhibits that frankly do not do the site justice. The site in its present form represents a monument to national apathy, or worse still insecurity about our national heritage, rather than the birthplace of modern Australia. Recent catch-up works brought some much needed improvement, but this should be the beginning of efforts to properly recognise Kurnell, not a mission accomplished moment in which to pose for photos, as it was at the time. The people of the Sutherland Shire are proud to live in an area that is so significant to our national history and our national story. It is time more was done to share this pride with all Australians. With my daughter turning three, it was with great pride that I was able to show her the place where Captain Cook landed. She looked at it and repeated it back to me. Every time we drive along Botany Bay now she points out to it.

What is needed is a major transformation. Only then can this site realise its potential to benefit all Australians. But to get there we need to confront the reasons for its neglect and ensure they are addressed in how we manage the site in the future. To that end, I have formed a bipartisan committee of federal and state politicians, councillors, and Indigenous, business and community representatives. I sincerely thank my fellow shire resident and a member of the other place, Senator Michael Forshaw, for joining me in the bipartisan charge and helping to convene the task force. The task force will draw on representatives from our federal and state parliaments and local councillors with a direct interest in Kurnell, together with local Indigenous, business and community representatives in the area. I have written to these leaders and, in the process of doing so, have encouraged them to come together and join in this movement. In particular, the Sutherland Shire Council Mayor, Lorraine Kelly, has recently indicated her willingness to join on behalf of the council, as has the state member for Cronulla, Malcolm Kerr and the shire councillor, Kevin Schreiber, who has had a long-standing passion for this issue and has already taken up the charge.

The task force will seek to approach respected local, state and national individuals to serve as Cook 2020 ambassadors to help educate and spread the message of the significance of Cook’s discovery and his role in our national story. My predecessor in this place, the Hon. Bruce Baird, has agreed to perform such a role in the pursuit of the task force’s objective. The first item of business for the task force will be to agree on a submission to federal, state and local governments to support works and initiatives as part of a comprehensive 2020 celebration program. This submission may contain a new vision for Kurnell based on the membership’s views, which could include: a new monument, together with upgraded walkways and signage; rebuilding the wharf at Kurnell to provide ferry and launch access; a high-tech museum of Pacific discovery, alongside a permanent Cook exhibition and Indigenous interpretive centre that will bring our national stories to life, particularly for young Australians; and an on-site venue with major catering facilities to ensure that it can cater for the needs of international tourists and others who come from around the country. There are other measures, such as the establishment of a national heritage community trust board, which would put the site under the management of local community and Indigenous groups, rather than a bureaucracy in the form of the National Parks service, to ensure that the site will always be protected for its heritage significance rather than for any other competing demands.

I believe Cook’s landing site at Kurnell plays a very special role for Australia as a place where we can come together again. It is a place of new beginnings. It is a place where we can celebrate our new beginnings while honouring and paying tribute to our Indigenous past. It is a place where the stories of Cook should be told alongside the stories of heroes like Pemulway, the great Aboriginal warrior who grew up on the other side of Botany Bay and fought for his people during the early settlement years. I look forward to reporting on further progress of the Cook 2020 Taskforce and enlisting the support of other members for the cause.

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