Page 3808 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 8 November 1994
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Mr De Domenico: They wear brighter ties, though.
MR STEFANIAK: They do wear brighter ties. Rather than getting rid of people grandstanding and being a disincentive to grandstanding, perhaps it has just refined the type of grandstanding that goes on. I do not really think it is going to change for the better the behaviour of members. To the credit of this little parliament, though, generally the behaviour of members here has been pretty good, on the whole. There is obviously a fair amount of toing-and-froing at times. Occasionally in the life of both this Assembly and the last there has been some vitriol, which is to be expected.
Mr Wood: Yes. Well, he is the one. That is him. Yes.
MR STEFANIAK: Him?
Mr Wood: He does it.
MR STEFANIAK: Hardly. Bill, not him. Generally, compared with the Federal Parliament, we are very tame. Mr Stevenson mentioned unaltered broadcasts and the benefit that that would have in terms of a lack of censorship. I suppose that for interested Canberrans, if there are many who are interested in following the affairs of this Assembly, and perhaps relevant debates which can never be adequately reported in the print media, let alone in radio grabs or television grabs, there is merit in broadcasting the goings on in this Assembly.
Mr Moore, in his speech, talked a little bit about the history of this Assembly. When one looks at what the community would think on this issue, that is very relevant. He referred to the fact that out of all the members here I am the only one who has been in and out of both Assemblies. I suppose I do get a certain perspective from that. In the First Assembly there were a number of issues and a number of members who were regarded as somewhat of a joke. In fact, the whole body was regarded as somewhat as a joke because, quite clearly, a large proportion of people in the ACT did not want that type of self-government.
Mr Kaine: There were a couple of good performers there.
MR STEFANIAK: There were some very good performers in the First Assembly, but some of the community did not really quite appreciate that. However, it is true, as members have said, and I think Madam Speaker has said, that the Assembly has mellowed; it has matured to an extent. Whilst the community is certainly not as anti as it was about the First Assembly, I do not believe that there is a huge amount of real interest in terms of what we do on a day-to-day basis. That is something I detected when I went back into the work force in February 1992, and until August 1994 when I came back into this place. People have too many other things in their daily lives to interest them to be worried to a great extent about what goes on in this place, unless there is some particular issue that they have very strong feelings on, or something that personally affects them in their livelihood. Then, of course, they become very interested. I suppose that that is true of politics in Australia as a whole. This place is not unique in that regard.
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