PRESS STATEMENT NO. 588
6 NOVEMBER 1975
NEW COMMISSIONER FOR THE DARWIN RECONSTRUCTION COMMISSION
The Prime Minister, Mr E. G. Whitlam, today announced
the appointment of a new Chairman of the Darwin Reconstruction
Commission. He is Mr Clem Jones, who for 14 years was Lord Mayor
of the City of Brisbane. He is 57 years of age, married with no
children. He is a licenced surveyor and holds a Bachelor of
Science degree. He took a post graduate course in Public
Administration at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Prime Minister said that the Government was fortunate to
obtain the services of a man of-Mr Jones' great experience.
Brisbane is the only all-purpose local government authority in
Australia. It covers approximately 400 square miles, a population
of 725,000 and has a budget of approximately $ 200 million.
The Prime Minister paid tribute to the excellent job which
had been done by the retiring Chairman, Mr Tony Powell, the
Co= issioner of the National Capital Development Commission in
Canberra. At the time of Mr Powell's appointment in March this
year he had indicated his willingness to serve for an initial
period of 12 months in order to establish the Reconstruction
Commission. It tyas agreed that at the end of the 12 month period
the position would ba reviewed.
The Prime 4inister said Mr Powell had recently suggested
that it waa now an appropriate time for the Government to
reconsider his position on the Reconstruction Commission.
The current situation with regard to the Commission is
that all of the senior staff have been appointed, including the.
General Manager who is the full-time chief executive. The
1975-76 work program'is committed and under way. A report on the
overall Five Year Reconstruction Program is with the Minister for
Northern Australia, IMIr Paul Keating.
Mr Powell told the Prime Minister that after its
somewhat difficult beginning the Commission was well set to
complete the tack it had been constituted to carry out. .7,7
2.
Mr Powell also advised the Prime Minister that he had
received the utmost courtesy and friendliness from the people
he had met and worked with in Darwin, but that there were
significant limitations upon his tine and availability in
trying to cope with full-time duties as Commissioner of the
N. C. D. C. in Canberra, and part-time Chairman of the Rleconstruction
Commission in Darwin.
With the advent of a new Minister in Mr Keating,, Mr Powell
felt it was time for the Government to consider whether he should
stand down as Chairman in favour of someone who would have more
time to devote to the job and would be able to identify more closely
with the Darwin community.
The Prime Minister said the Government wished to place
on record its gratitude to'Ar Powell for the way in which he had
coped with the difficult period of establishing the Commission.
The. Government was pleased that the appointment of Mr Clem Jones
to the position of Chairman of the Reconstruction Commission
would enable Mr Powell to devote his great talents to the important
task. of planning, construction and development of the national
capital.