Page 327 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 1 March 1994
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Mr Stevenson: Chasing.
MR CONNOLLY: No, speaking. We are finding, and police will tell you this, that a young person is much more likely to speak to a young police officer on a pushbike than they ever are to police officers in the squad cars. The police and citizens youth clubs do have a role to fulfil, but we need to go beyond that. We need to go beyond the Blue Light disco which, while it fulfils a valuable role, does attract only certain young people. Some young people - those most at risk and those to whom we really need to direct attention - would not be seen dead at a Blue Light disco.
Mr Humphries: That is not true, necessarily.
MR CONNOLLY: That is true, Mr Humphries. It is unfortunate and I wish it were not true, but it is true. There is a level of resistance. I also point out that Mr De Domenico has been urging me for the last three weeks to provide a subsidised bus to take Canberra's young people to what he calls a Blue Light disco in New South Wales which is run commercially. So it seems as though they can run commercially in New South Wales but they need to be subsidised in the ACT, which seems a tad unusual.
The police budget has yet to be brought down. Mr Humphries has referred to a working party document, which I thought represented confidential discussions between the Australian Federal Police union and police management about possible options. Mr Humphries chooses to table it in this place. I hope that that does not prejudice the discussions. No final decisions have been taken. The Government would like to continue a commitment with the police and citizens youth clubs, but I have to say that playing politics like this with the police and citizens youth clubs does not help.
MR DE DOMENICO (4.11): Madam Speaker, may I start where Mr Connolly left off. He used the words "playing politics". I ask the Minister who he really believes is playing politics.
Ms Follett: You are, so that is easy.
MR DE DOMENICO: The Chief Minister interjects. She can do that until her face turns blue or red, but the reality is that this Minister opposite has been playing politics with this issue for months and months. I was not going to mention this, but Mr Connolly did, so let us look at the Blue Light disco run by a commercial operator in Queanbeyan. It was suggested that young people who live in the Tuggeranong Valley might wish to go to Queanbeyan because this commercial facility provided under the one roof things such as Blue Light discos and slot machines.
Mr Connolly: Madam Speaker, could I draw your attention to the precedent that was set some minutes ago by the learned Deputy Speaker when he ruled that anything to do with the budget was irrelevant. I could not justify my remarks in discussing the police budget; I had to speak specifically to the Canberra police and citizens youth clubs. We are now going on an excursion on subsidised buses in Tuggeranong. I wonder which ruling we have to apply. Is the previous ruling that you can talk only about the police and citizens youth clubs in Canberra correct or is the ruling more general - that one can have these interesting, albeit irrelevant, discussions?
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