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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2400 ..


MR STANHOPE

(continuing):

from. Those are your antecedents, that is who you are-the Liberal Party, incarcerators of children in concentration camps.

Mr Pratt

: Crap.

MR STANHOPE

: That is who you are, Mr Pratt. You lock up little children. That is what you do, Mr Pratt. You and your party lock up little children in concentration camps in the middle of the Australian desert-a shame the like of which we will not escape from for the rest of this century.

We still talk about the concentration camps that the Boers were placed in 1901. I think these analogies are interesting. We still talk about them; I still read about them. We still talk about how the 20th century was born with the psych-

Mr Pratt

: It might be an issue to be debated but be reasonable about it, Chief Minister. Don't get so dramatic or melodramatic about it.

MR STANHOPE

: Melodramatic? Locking up children? We are being melodramatic about little children being locked up in concentration camps? It is what your party, the Liberal Party of Australia, does. It is where you are from, it is what you stand for. Here you are, arguing against a bill of rights, or human rights, and moving an amendment to the ACT budget to remove $200,000 that might be used for human rights education. For God's sake!

Your great intervention in relation to the ACT budget is to move an amendment to remove moneys to be utilised for educating the community in relation to human rights. "There is no need to educate us in relation to human rights. We're an intelligent community,"Mrs Burke says. "What education do we need in relation to human rights?"And then you sit there and justify locking up little children in concentration camps.

Mr Pratt

: No, we don't.

MR STANHOPE

: You take it to the High Court. After the Family Court says it is unconscionable, illegal and unconstitutional, you appeal to the High Court. "Oh, we can't have this. We've got to keep those little kiddies locked up in concentration camps. We'll appeal this to the High Court. We'll get the High Court to say it's okay to lock up these little children."That is where you are coming from. So I am not a bit surprised that you want to amend this budget so there is no money in it for educating about human rights.

Mr Pratt

: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order. T his is misrepresentation. We on this side have never talked about locking up kids in concentration camps or any other camps. We don't necessarily support that crap, Chief Minister, so don't get carried away.

MR SPEAKER

: That is not a point of order.

MR STANHOPE

: Anyway, Mr Smyth has moved an amendment that would remove from the ACT budget the capacity of the ACT government to engage in human rights


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