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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3801 ..

MR STANHOPE: Anyway, Mr Pratt, out of your mouth you make my case. To stand in this place and attack Mr Hicks and assume him to be guilty and to defend the outrageous behaviour of this nation and the United States of America in relation to Hicks and Habibi really defies comprehension.

Cerebral palsy

MRS BURKE (10.24): I seek leave to speak.

Leave granted.

MRS BURKE: This is an important issue. I did not see any of us other than Mr Smyth at the launch of Cerebral Palsy Week last night. We need to have a greater awareness of cerebral palsy. It is estimated that in Australia every 18 hours a child is born with cerebral palsy. There is no known cure and the incidence of severe disability is on the increase. Cerebral palsy is a physical condition that affects movement. I am pleased to say that tomorrow in the Canberra Centre at about 11 o’clock, there will be two really brave young men who are sufferers of cerebral palsy. One is Mark Morris, who was a 2000 paralympian. It is a sitting day, but it would be good if members could be there or could tell family or friends.

Mark will be there. At the moment he is studying sports management and administration at the University of Canberra. The other is Tim James, who many might know as playing a keyboard outside many of the shopping centres. Tim is currently on his third CD and doing really well. These two young men are a tribute to what you can do with a disability. It is more the ability in the disability rather than the disablement of the disability. The launch last night was excellent. It was disappointing not to see many members from the government represented there. I am sure we all had invites to be there, and it was disappointing.

Mrs Cross: I would have been there. I did not get one.

MRS BURKE: If you did not get invited, I am sorry about that. Maybe it was just a select few. Most of the money Tim James raises when he is playing in the street is to go back into the cause, into the organisation. I ask members to think about that and spread the news about this debilitating condition. They should also remember that young people can make something out of their disability and that their slogan is “cerebral palsy is no barrier”.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

The Assembly adjourned at 10.27 pm.

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