Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am quoting here:

I cannot honestly say that I liked Canberra very much; it was to me a place of exile; but I soon began to realize that the decision had been taken, that Canberra was and would continue to be the capital of the nation, and that it was therefore imperative to make it a worthy capital; something that the Australian people would come to admire and respect; something that would be a focal point for national pride and sentiment. Once I had converted myself to this faith, I became an apostle …

Those are the words of Sir Robert Menzies, a self-confessed apostle of Canberra. Menzies, through a series of bold and ambitious decisions, established Canberra as the thriving city we know it as today—as a great national capital, with a consolidated Public Service. Now, some 60 years after the crucial establishment of the National Capital Development Commission, the party that Menzies— (Time expired)

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.