Page 1642 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 May 1990
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MR KAINE: No, Mr Speaker, I cannot allay the concerns of anybody in the community on that score. The Assembly has twice considered private members' Bills, one which would have banned X-rated material from the Territory completely and the other which would have restricted its
availability within the Territory. Both of those Bills were rejected by this Assembly. Given that, I doubt that the Assembly is of a mind to change this view. There is very little justification for allowing the business to go untaxed in a free enterprise system. It should be expected to pay its share of the cost of government, just as other elements of business do, and the Government will be introducing a Bill accordingly.
MR STEVENSON: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. In the house on 21 November last year Mr Kaine said:
Mr Speaker, this community finds it totally unacceptable to legalise video pornography. I believe it finds it equally unacceptable and repugnant to legitimise it by institutionalising it as a legitimate source of tax revenues. No State has done so; we cannot either. The Liberal Party opposes the Bill ...
That unequivocal statement was recorded in Hansard on page 2738. My question is: how can the people of Canberra have confidence in him as the Chief Minister or in other members of the Alliance who stood on that day to defeat the attempt by the Labor Party to profit from pornography?
MR KAINE: Very simply, Mr Speaker, my view personally is still as expressed then and now read by Mr Stevenson. If I had my wish, X-rated videos would be banned from the Territory. Unfortunately I am a member of an Alliance Government and a 17-member parliament which do not support that view.
Taxis for the Disabled
MS MAHER: My question is directed to Mr Humphries as Minister for Health, Education and the Arts. In the area of disability I have had numerous representations from constituents concerning the ACT taxi scheme and the waiting list for that scheme. What is the ACT Government doing to ensure equity of access to the ACT taxi scheme for all people currently on the scheme's waiting list?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I thank Ms Maher for her question and I acknowledge the concern in some sections of the community about the operation and the scope of the taxi scheme for the disabled. A waiting list for eligible people was initiated on 1 April last year to limit the demand on the funds available before the 1988-89 financial year. Unfortunately such restrictions will have to be a
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