ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collection

HMSS 0204 Greg Cornwell Papers

Scope and content notes

Call Number	HMSS 0204
Collection	Greg Cornwell Papers
Date Range	1974-1999
Quantity	0.36m (2 manuscript boxes)
Access Conditions	open
Copying Conditions	with attribution
Related Collections	HMSS 0107 Transition to Self-Government Oral History Project HMSS 0033 Tevor Kaine Papers

Greg Cornwell was born in Sydney in 1938 and came to Canberra in 1966. He initially worked in shipping, then public relations before entering local politics as a member of the Liberal Party. He served in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1975 to 1979 and its successor the ACT House of Assembly from 1979 to 1986, as the member for Fraser. After self-government, he served as one of the representatives for Molonglo in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 2004 and was Assembly speaker from 1995-2001. In 2008, Greg was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the ACT Assembly and the community.

Greg has written articles on topics including travel and politics. An increasing concern about overpopulation led him to publish his factional novella, Shangri-la ... when the world is overpopulated, in 2010. A copy is held by the ACT Heritage Library.

This collection consists of personal papers particularly relating to the lead up to self-government, of which he was a major supporter. Following the reports of the Joint Committee on the ACT in 1974, and of the Task Force on Self-Government in the ACT in 1976, a referendum was held in 1978. From then until the establishment of self-government in 1989 a number of Commonwealth and Assembly joint, standing and ad hoc committees examined the desirability, feasibility and extent of future ACT constitutional development. Various forms of government were investigated and proposed, including an ACT Council.

The campaign for self-government involved both Commonwealth and Assembly members and the general public. The issue of voting rights was particularly important in the general community; financial arrangements were a high priority for the governments. The Movement for Home Rule was an important organisation in the final stages of the campaign, as was the ACT Self-government Campaign Committee. Greg Cornwell was a founding member of both groups. On his retirement at the abolition of the House of Assembly in 1986, he received the thanks of both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament, the ACT House of Assembly, and the Liberal Party, for his contribution.

Box List

BOX NO.	DESCRIPTION	QUANTITY	DATE RANGE
1	GOVERNMENT REPORTS, STATEMENTS AND POLICIES		1974 – 1986
	Reports and speeches: - Joint Committee on the ACT. Self-government and Public Finance in the Australian Capital Territory, December 1974 - Information for Voters for the 1978 self-government referendum - Report of the Joint Co-ordination Committee to the Minister for the Capital Territory and the ACT House of Assembly, 27 November 1981 - Speech by Michael Hodgman, Minister for the Capital Territory, at the opening of the House of Assembly, 16 July 1982	1 file	1974 – 1982
	Task Force on Self-government in the Australian Capital Territory. Reports, March 1976 and May 1984	2 booklets	1976 – 1984
	Self-government proposals: media releases from Commonwealth and Assembly members, position papers, Assembly election results and analysis	1 file	1985

1	ACT HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSITION TO SELF-GOVERNMENT The Standing Committee was established on 22 August 1983 to advise the Assembly and to provide a means of liaison with the Task Force on the Implementation of Self-government
	Reports and correspondence: - Report no. 1: Submission to the Task Force on Self-government relating to financial matters, January 1984 - Report no. 2: , no title, September 1984 - Report: Proposals for Self-government, August 1985 - Report no. 5: Implementation of self-government, February 1986 - Report no. 6: ACT Council – privilege, no date	1 file, 1 folder	1984 – 1986

1	ACT HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT		1986
	Report no. 45: Planning and development under Territorial government, May 1986	1 sleeve

1	ACT HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND LEGISLATION Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Classification of Revenue and Expenditure in the ACT, June 1985, and related correspondence	1 folder	1985

1	COMMONWEALTH GRANTS COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO ACT FINANCES		1985 – 1987
	- ACT House of Assembly submission, November 1985 - ACT House of Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Legislation, Report no. 65: Commonwealth Grants Commission (second) Inquiry into ACT Finances – Second Progress Report, December 1985 - Canberra Association for Regional Development (CARD) submission to the third Inquiry, November 1987	1 file

1	LIBERAL PARTY POLICY ON ACT SELF-GOVERNMENT Includes successive policy statements from 1980 to 1986, correspondence and statements from Liberal Party members, particularly Senator Margaret Reid, speeches, media releases, newscuttings	1 file	1980 – 1988

1	SELF-GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION		1986 – 1988
	Australian Capital Territory Effective Self-government Bill 1986. Introduced by Senator Vigor, Australia Democrat, including Summary of Key Provisions	1 folder	1986
	ACT Council bills, each with Explanatory Memorandum and Tabling Statement and Second Reading Speech by the Hon Gordon Scholes, Minister for Territories - Australian Capital Territory Council Bill 1986 - Australian Capital Territory Council (Consequential Provisions) Bill 1986 Speeches, brochures and media releases relating to the ACT Council	1 file	1986
	Bills for ACT self-government that were passed into law, including Explanatory Memoranda and Second Reading speeches: - Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land Management) Bill 1988 - Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Bill 1988 - Australian Capital Territory (Electoral) Bill 1988	1 file	1988

2	VOTING ISSUES Includes correspondence, media releases and newscuttings relating to electoral representation, particularly: - Australian Capital Territory (Constitutional Provisions) Bill 1988, introduced by Senator Jean Jenkins - d’Hondt voting system compared with Discrete Communities Proportional Representation	1 file	1980 – 1988

2	MOVEMENT FOR HOME RULE This was established in 1987 by a group of concerned citizens to raise questions, both nationally and internationally, relating to electoral representation; Greg Cornwell was an active member		1987 – 1988
	Includes: - statement of intent - letters to Queen Elizabeth II, heads of foreign governments and other foreign dignitaries - letters and petitions to Australian governments and individual politicians - letters to editors of newspapers, educational institutions and regional organisations - submission to the United Nations - ideas on self rule, including John Brimhall’s Australian Song Book containing a song that Greg Cornwell adapted and had published in the Canberra Times	4 folders

2	PROPOSALS FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT – POLITICAL AND COMMUNITY REACTION Includes media releases, correspondence, newscuttings	1 file	1986 – 1988

2	ACT SELF-GOVERNMENT CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE The Committee was proposed at a public meeting on 14 October 1987; the first meeting was on 20 October; Greg Cornwell was a founding member.		1987 – 1988
	Minutes of meetings, lists of fundamental principles for self-government and land use legislation, correspondence, mailing list, flyers and posters, media releases and newscuttings	2 files	October 1987 –1988
	Workshop: Financing the ACT Now and for Self-government - papers presented at the workshop - Third Commonwealth Grants Commission Inquiry on Financing the ACT, briefing notes, January 1988: 2: Factor Assessments 3: Indirect National Capital / Seat of Government Influences and other Commonwealth Policies 4: Revenue Assessments 6: Terminology used in Assessments made by the Commission 7: Regional Impact Factor	1 file	27 February 1988

2	SELF-GOVERNMENT MOVEMENT – NEWSCUTTINGS	1 scrapbook, 1 folder	1987 – 1988

2	TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF SELF-GOVERNMENT CONFERENCE
	- Program - Gary L Sturgess. ‘Principles and Benchmarks of Good Governance’ - Gary Humphries. ‘Governance in a City State; “I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face”: Evolution of a City State Parliament’ - Roger Wettenhall. ‘Governance in a City State; Development of the ACT Model’ - Steve Garlick. ‘Regional Governance in the Future; Managing Space in the Global Economy – Actors and Processes’ - Terry G Birtles. ‘Regional Governance in the Future; The Australian Capital Region: ‘Free Form’ Operation or a Grassroots Anomaly’ - In Our Own Right: The road to ACT self-government. Exhibition at Canberra Museum and Gallery	1 folder	11 – 12 May 1999

2	GREG CORNWELL RETIREMENT Letters of appreciation from the Liberal Party, the ACT House of Assembly, the Senate and the Minister for Territories	1 sleeve	June – July 1986