Page 3300 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 November 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
they know how to work together by providing fast and efficient service for their customers. CWS, members may remember, was recently awarded the ACT Small Business Award Overall Winner for 1992 and the ACT Small Business Categories Winner for 1992 for a business with less than 30 employees. These two awards are added to their many existing awards going back over the last several years.
The reason for their award was simple. Even in tough times they have an aggressive approach to marketing, full of innovative ideas, and they take a very modern hands-on approach to management - something which makes all the staff, be they seniors or juniors, feel that they work as part of a team. I think it is terrific to see that, during the toughest of economic times, these two businesses are continuing to grow. For me it was nothing but a pleasure to be able to open their new premises. It is good to see, Madam Speaker, amongst all the bad news that we hear so regularly about small business, that there are some small businesses that are able to grow, simply by taking the right approach to business. That is good for everyone in the ACT. I just wish that the ACT Government would create a business environment that will help other businesses grow without the uncertainty of a future that exists now.
Racism
MRS GRASSBY (4.37): Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to speak about a subject covered on last night's A Current Affair program. The story I refer to documented several instances of blatant racism directed towards members of the Australian Aboriginal community. This evening I am not going to recount each of these instances. Instead, I wish to address the attitude that appears to be widespread among white Australians.
Madam Speaker, 20 years ago next month the Australian people elected the Whitlam Labor Government on a platform of reform. One of its most significant reforms was the dismantling of the white Australia policy and instituting a policy of multiculturalism and equality for all Australians, no matter whether they were black or white or where they came from. Madam Speaker, I stress "all" because I believe that 20 years later this has not occurred. The traditional owners of this continent are subjected to blatant discrimination and made to feel strangers in their own country. This attitude disgusts me and I am ashamed at what I saw last night.
Canberra is the most ethnically diverse city in Australia and we pride ourselves on our tolerance, but after last night I am forced to ask myself whether there is not an underside that I am not aware of. Are we only paying lip service to the concept of equality or do we really mean it? Madam Speaker, the attitudes demonstrated last night by white Australians were appalling. These people, in marginal positions of power, seem determined to abuse that power and bring shame on all of us. I do not need to tell anyone here that housing is not a luxury, it is a right - a right denied to the gentleman by the real estate agents that he visited. I recently visited Los Angeles and saw the results of racism first-hand. I am sure that all members were as horrified as I was when I watched the nightly news and saw Los Angeles burn. Those riots were touched off by the abuse of power of certain individuals. The true horror is that a society could allow a group of its citizens to be treated as second class until these people feel that they have no option but to resort to violence.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .