Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I commend the member for Capricornia for her fine speech and wish her well in her post-political life. As she mentioned, we have gone a long way together—around the world, indeed, to Canada and Mongolia and on our regional Australia trip. Certainly, her contribution to that fly-in fly-out inquiry was invaluable.

Speaking of invaluable, such has been the work of the former Attorney General, the member for Barton, whose seat is named after Edmund Barton, the first prime minister of this great country. Certainly, there is going to be a different political landscape in the building we are acknowledging today in this motion on the 25-year anniversary of this building. It is going to look totally different in the next parliament. We have the members for Capricornia and Barton both retiring. This morning we heard that the members for New England and Lyne are joining them in retirement. But while the faces will change, the building and its service to the nation will go on. Parliament House is a symbol of Australian democracy, home to the Australian parliament and the meeting place of the nation. It was originally the ground upon which the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people used to meet as well and we should acknowledge them in this motion.

On 9 May 1988, the building we are currently standing in—Australia's Parliament House—was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, long may she reign, 10 years after the Fraser government decided a new building was required on Capital Hill. Old Parliament House, as it is now known, was opened in 1927 and was only ever intended to be a temporary building for the Australian parliament; however, the building was starting to become outgrown and by the 1980s there were 3,000 people working in a space originally designed for just 300. Old Parliament House served Australia well—for 61 long years. It is very much an iconic building.

The Fraser government announced a two-stage competition to become the designer of the new building, and the winner was New York based architectural firm Mitchell/Giurgola, with Italian architect Romaldo Giurgola on site for the construction process. Construction of this magnificent building began in 1981 and was intended to be completed by Australia Day 1988 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of European settlement in Australia. The construction was to cost Australia $220 million. However, neither the completion date nor the budgets were met. Her Majesty opened the building just over three months after the expected date—which is not too bad, given the size and scope of the building—and the building cost a total of A$1.1 billion, making it the most expensive building in the world at the time of its construction. But it is worth it. I think we would all agree that it has certainly been worth it. I know the member for Canberra agrees that it is worth it; it is probably in her electorate.

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