PM Transcripts

E Re, Q
6 JUN 19690
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BY THE
PRIME MINISTER, THE KT. HON. J. G. GORTON, M. P.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE SITE
29 May 1969
The debate on the siting of the new and permnanent
Parliament House has now proceeded over something like the last
9 months. It resulted initially from the Government's decision
of last August to have a free non-party vote on the question of a site.
That debate provided a full opportunity for members and senators
to express their views, and most of them did.
The original proposal for the lakeside site was clearly
unacceptable to the majority of the members in each House, and that
site was abandoned. Subsequently, the joint Select Committee,
representative of all parties and both Houses, after hearing and
studying public and expert evidence from all those wishing to come
forward, overwhelmingly recommended to Parliament that the new
Parliament House should be sited on Camp Hill, as was originally
planned by Burley Griffin, the designer of Canberra. In the resultant
debate the House of Representatives voted to agree with the
recommendation of that Committee while the Senate voted to disagree
with it, and the Senate has also voted against the proposal for a joint
sitting. The position therefore remains quite unresolved.
It should not be allowed to remain unresolved because
of the need for planning and construction of other works, both road
works and construction which depend on the making of a decision as
to the site of Parliament House. Therefore the Government, feeling
that a decision must be made, has decided to inform the National
Capital Development Commission that Camp Hill will be the site of
the new and permanent Parliament House.