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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-06 Daily Xml
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Question Time

INTEGRATED DESIGN COMMISSIONER

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:48): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question about the Integrated Design Commission and in particular the appointment of Integrated Design Commissioner, Professor Laura Lee.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: As members would know, Professor Laura Lee was appointed in 2009 as one of our Thinkers in Residence as (I think the minister was quoted as saying in a speech) a highly regarded leader in integrated design education, practice and research in architecture. Professor Lee completed her residency and recommended the establishment of an integrated design commission that would have an integrated design commissioner, a government architect and some other positions.

It is interesting to note that Professor Lee has now been appointed as Integrated Design Commissioner and that on radio last week the minister, although he is the minister responsible, could not actually tell the listeners of South Australia exactly what her salary was. I listened to the minister on 891 that morning. He certainly articulated the need for a commission to be set up, and members would be well aware that the opposition also supported, when it was announced, the appointment of an independent design commissioner.

In his interview, the minister confirmed that we really do need to look at how the built form of Adelaide is integrated with the surroundings and that we need an expert to lead in providing advice to the government. In the Premier's press release of 28 December, one of the comments he made was:

It will ensure that the future development infrastructure investment is better coordinated and is of the highest quality, not something that we or our children will regret later.

As members of parliament, we actually do have the privilege to represent the state and to travel. We have a generous travel allowance, and we are able to travel.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Ridgway.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Often we are advised by the government to take overseas trips to further advance the state. This is my question to the minister, after I was interrupted by the arrogant returned government: what examples can the minister identify of practical architectural design that Professor Lee has done in other cities or regional centres of Adelaide's size elsewhere in the world that we may visit to see the type of impact Professor Lee will have on this great city?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (15:51): Mr President, isn't it nice to be back, but some things do not change. The government was delighted that Professor Laura Lee, such an eminent architect and urban designer, was able to take the position of urban design commissioner. As I pointed out in the radio interview that the honourable member was referring to, when I first became the Minister for Urban Development and Planning back in March 2005, almost from that first day onwards, the architectural industry and other urban planners had been advocating that we should appoint somebody.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I remind the honourable member not to start teaching our new members bad habits so early in their careers. The minister.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Right from that day onwards, the government and I as the minister have been lobbied heavily in relation to appointing someone as a government architect in particular, or taking other measures to improve the design of the built form within our city, and it was largely as a consequence of that that Professor Laura Lee was invited in 2008 to become a Thinker in Residence, to focus specifically on the value of design and the impact of the built environment on the quality of life for South Australians.

It was also around that time or shortly after that the government established the Planning and Development Review, one of the recommendations of which was that we should have urban design panels. So, one of the issues that Professor Lee was invited out here to look at was the question of design.

Of course, the important point that she made—and the government was well aware of it, as it coincided with the Planning and Development Review's recommendation—was that, as well as getting better architecture, we needed to ensure that that architecture, the built form, integrated well with the community. That was the recommendation. There is really no person better suited for that position than Professor Laura Lee. She has held a number of positions and was of course professor of architecture.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: What has she done? Where are the cities?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: What I can tell the honourable member is that I had a meeting with Professor Laura Lee and the eminent world-renowned architect Jan Gehl, who has worked not only in Adelaide but also in Melbourne and is an associate of Professor Lee.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, I'm saying Laura Lee is an associate, and has worked with him, and a number of eminent international architects of that ilk, on work around the major cities. She is a professor in Antwerp, I believe, in Europe, and she has been on commission to a number of other prominent institutions throughout Europe and the United States.

Her home base was Antwerp in Belgium. Of course, she was also the Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. That is a city the honourable member could well go and have a look at. It was a former steel town and a very good example for this city is how Pittsburgh has transformed from an old industrial city into a modern city.

If the honourable member wishes to denigrate Professor Lee's qualifications, I suggest that he talks to the architectural profession in this state. That profession rang me since they apparently tried to get onto a radio program. They rang to give an endorsement to Professor Lee because of her eminence in the field in which she works. This state is very lucky to have someone of Professor Lee's capacity to work as the Integrated Design Commissioner.

Because we are able to attract someone of her eminence, the federal government has provided about $1 million through the Adelaide City Integrated Design Strategy. Professor Lee has already begun work on that. Professor Lee is not only very familiar with Adelaide but, because we have been able to get someone of her eminence, we have been able to attract some money for that very important project (and I know my colleague the minister for the capital city is well aware of that) but in addition she has experience in her field right around the world.

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