Page 302 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
whether we become big bad policemen and go around grabbing dogs and, if they do not have tags on them, destroying them. This problem has to be thought of very carefully. One gentleman went away on holiday and did not register his dog or the dog's tag fell off; I am not quite sure how it happened. Unfortunately, when the man returned he did not know that his dog had not been looked after by the people who were supposed to have been doing the job, and the dog had been picked up by the dog patrol. It had been kept for the required number of days and when the man got back he discovered the dog had been destroyed.
The man was a pensioner, the dog had been his only companion, and he was very upset at its loss. There is a nice end to this story because we were able to give him another dog, but of course it was not the same animal.
TRANSYLVANIA
DR KINLOCH: This is to follow up a question asked on another occasion by Mr Stefaniak. Mr Speaker, I well recognise that it is not the concern of this Assembly to deal with foreign affairs matters, but I put this in the connection of ethnic communities in the ACT. The questioner notes a recent meeting at which Mr John Langmore, MHR, represented the Labor Party and Senator Baden Teague represented the Liberal Party at a Transylvania awareness evening involving themes related to Romania and Hungary. Could the Minister assure the Assembly that representatives of the Transylvanian Association of Canberra, specifically Dr Kazar, its president, be given free access to the staff of the Schools Authority in the association's campaign to eliminate ignorance concerning violations of human rights and civil rights in Transylvania?
MR WHALAN: I shall have to take that question on notice.
DRIVING LICENCES
MR WOOD: I direct a question to the Minister for Housing and Urban Services about driving licences. Is she aware of steps taken elsewhere in Australia, for good reasons, to introduce new systems for licensing car drivers on a graduated approach? Does she plan to examine such a system for the ACT?
MRS GRASSBY: My department has already moved a long way in the area of photographic licences. We are looking at graduating licences so that initially 17-year-olds would have a licence for two years. If during that period they have had no offences or have never been picked up on an alcohol charge, they would then progress to the next stage of the licence. If they have committed an offence, they
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .