Page 3903 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
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SUSPENSION OF STANDING AND TEMPORARY ORDERS
MR HUMPHRIES (10.39): Madam Speaker, I move:
That so much of the standing and temporary orders be suspended as would prevent order of the day No. 18, private members business, relating to the Crimes (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1994, being called on forthwith.
Madam Speaker, my party does not lightly take the step of moving this very unusual motion before the Assembly today. We are acutely aware that this motion goes against the tradition of this place that a member is in charge of his or her own matter and is entitled, in most cases, to have the custody of that matter in terms of when it comes forward for debate. I believe, Madam Speaker, that the circumstances which have arisen in respect of this Bill make it clear that that principle cannot be absolute and must, in certain circumstances, be tempered.
The matter that Mr Berry has raised in his Crimes (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) is of extreme importance to a great many members of our community. There are few issues which have generated more intense debate over the last few months than this issue. Indeed, it is one of the issues which have divided our community more acutely than any other in the life of this parliament. I think that, in the circumstances, great expectations hang over the Assembly about the way in which this matter will be dealt with. People expect to see this matter resolved by this Assembly. I believe, Madam Speaker, that it is important for us to determine the issue which has been raised by Mr Berry's Bill. I wrote to Mr Berry recently to ask him to commit himself to a firm date on which he would bring forward the Bill that he presented in this place on 24 August.
Mr Berry: Why do you not table it?
MR HUMPHRIES: I will table the letter. I do not have my letter to Mr Berry, but I do have his reply to me. He indicated in that reply, essentially, that he did not believe that it was appropriate to expedite this matter. I infer from his letter that he believes that there is no case for bringing this matter on for debate necessarily before the end of this Assembly. Madam Speaker, I seek leave to table that letter.
Leave granted.
MR HUMPHRIES: Madam Speaker, I ask members to consider the circumstances where these sorts of matters might be urgent enough to consider under this extraordinary procedure. Let us suppose that a member in this place, now or at some time in the future, tables a motion or a Bill to indicate that, because Asian immigration is a serious problem in our community, Asian people should be ineligible to receive services from the ACT Government, or that Aboriginal people should not be entitled to use the same services as non-Aboriginal people, or that Jewish people should be refused admission to ACT government schools, or something of that kind. There would, understandably,
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