Page 2145 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 9 September 1992
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they went, part-time over an eight-week period, many of them learned to speak some Russian. They were able to converse to some degree. I remember that when I travelled across the Soviet Union I used to tell people that I could speak fluent Russian - Dostoievsky and Bolshoi; but that was about it. These children, prior to going, took the trouble to learn some Russian. I think it says a lot for their determination. It says a lot for the many local sponsors who helped this Scout patrol go to the Soviet Union.
Trevor Kaine is worthy of commendation in this matter because he donated to that expedition. That was very kind of him. I know that many other people did, too; but I cannot mention everybody. They also applied to the ACT Government for assistance prior to going. Unfortunately, that request could not be met because of a shortage of funds. The entire trip cost somewhere about $40,000, or a touch under. I believe that they are still $9,000 down on that. If it is possible for the Government to give them a grant I think it would be money well spent. They do a good job. I listened to some of the children speak yesterday and if they are an example of children in the ACT I think they have done us proud.
Canberra Times - Police Investigation
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (4.52): Madam Speaker, over the last 48 hours or so there has been a great deal of concern about the leaking ship. Well, it would appear that there is a huge torpedo hole in the side. I would like to share with members of the Assembly a document that came into my possession quite recently. I would like to read it into Hansard. It is a letter that says:
My Dear Chief Minister,
I am writing to express serious concern about the actions of your Government in sending police to The Canberra Times yesterday. I can think of no precedent in at least a decade for such an action being initiated by government, state or federal in Australia.
If you and your government have a problem with the security of information, either in ministers' offices or in the administration at large, it ought, I suggest, be dealt with as a problem at source, rather than in clumsy and inevitably unsuccessful attempts to intimidate the media.
The Canberra Times takes seriously its obligation to bring to the people of Canberra matters of public interest about the administration of Canberra. The interest of our reporters is never going to be confined to a redigesting of the material your administration and ministry's considerable public relations apparatus deems fit to issue but will involve questioning of ministers, administrators and others and the following up of information we garner from informal sources. We do not suborn sources. We will not refrain from using leaked material: indeed, so routine is leaking as a form of news management, at all levels of your government that it would be difficult, in any event, to know what information your government wished suppressed and that which it wanted out in ways that it thought it could control.
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