Page 1198 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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I think this entire issue is better forgotten. It has not been a happy episode for the Assembly. That is why the Labor Party sought not to take part in that debate when Mr Moore was censured. I think it is about time Mr Collaery grew up and let the matter rest.
POLITICAL ADVERTISING
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Speaker has received a letter from Mr Stevenson proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
The need for the Chief Minister to make representations concerning the adverse effects that the Federal Government's proposal to ban all political advertising on the electronic media will have on the citizens of Canberra, their democracy and their basic right of free speech.
MR STEVENSON (4.20): I believe that this attempted legislation by the Federal Labor Party is one of the greatest threats to freedom of expression we have yet faced in Canberra and Australia as a whole. In today's Canberra Times it is stated that elected politicians are our servants, not our masters. That sums it up as well as you can.
Let me explain, first of all, what this proposal would do. It suggests a total ban on all electronic advertising, certainly radio and television - it may include theatre and other areas - held to have a political content. It would be for 365 days a year and would work at a Federal level, a State level, a Territorial level and a local level. One of the key points was covered by Senator Nick Bolkus who was quoted in the Australian Financial Review today as having said that government advertising outside election campaigns would be subject to the same treatment as interest group advertising - that is, it would be banned if it were deemed to be political. The key words here are "deemed to be". Who would decide that the Federal Government's advertising was political? The Federal Government. Who would decide that someone else's advertising was political? The Federal Government.
This is an attack on the basic constitutional right of freedom of expression of all Australians. We have a right within normal parameters to express our opinion. The most important expression of anyone's opinion has to do with the very web of politics. There is nothing that affects our lives more than politicians making decisions on how our lives will run and how much money we will pay for their particular policies.
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