Page 3497 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 19 September 1990
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from the Government's decision. Certainly, governments all over democracy pass laws to override court decisions. The fact is that we did not proceed to do that by legislation. That could have been a handy device of this Assembly because we would have been obliged to have the votes of the Labor Opposition members because they had supported this from the word go. We could have passed a Bill to have the Canberra Times site proceed; but, rather than humbug the time of this Assembly and take up the costs of this legislature, the Government had the courage to make the decision in Cabinet. Although that Cabinet decision is not justiciable in my view, the fact of the matter is that within a short time full appeal processes will be available in this town.
As my colleague Mr Jensen has emphasised, the Canberra Times issue was and is an historical anomaly. It sets no benchmark for the future behaviour of this Assembly and I want to debunk entirely the notion that this Government helter-skelter decided to override decisions of the court. It did no such thing; it gave the most careful consideration to the issues and in the public interest determined that the cost of bringing legislation forward and taking the time of the Assembly to achieve a foregone conclusion was not in the public interest. What was in the public interest was that the derelict site be dealt with, and we get on with proper planning and never put our judges through this process again.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion (by Mr Collaery) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Melbourne - Olympic Games Bid
MRS NOLAN (5.05): Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise very briefly in the adjournment debate today to place on record my disappointment that Melbourne did not win the Olympic Games bid. I would like to say commiserations to Melbourne, however my congratulations to all of those people involved in putting together that very professional bid, the bid that I believe has made a significant contribution to tourism right round Australia. That is, of course, one of the major reasons for my disappointment. Canberra would also have benefited greatly from the vast numbers of visitors who would have visited the country to attend the 26th Olympic Games in 1996. The fact that the Games have been held only once in the southern hemisphere must, I believe, give weight to Australia continuing to bid for the Games, and I am hopeful that Sydney or one of the other State capitals will bid for the Games in the year 2000.
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