Page 4637 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 19 October 2011
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This motion of Dr Bourke’s today is to, again, highlight the importance of what is happening here, the importance of this legislation as far as democratic rights for people in the ACT are concerned. It is urging all members of the House of Representatives—
Mr Seselja interjecting—
MS HUNTER: Not in the Senate, Mr Seselja—it has passed the Senate—but the House of Representatives. It is talking to the Liberal Party and it is also talking to the independents in the House of Representatives, to say that this is actually an important issue for the people of the ACT. When it was a media issue some months ago when it first came up, you may recall that there were quite a lot of people who did have an opinion, who felt that it was unfair that the ACT did not have the same democratic rights as other folk who live just over the border in Queanbeyan, just down the road in Yass, all around the country—it was unfair for the Northern Territory and for the ACT to not have those rights.
People in the ACT were a little upset about that. They do not like the thought that they go to the polls once every four years, they vote in their representatives here in this parliament to make laws, and to then have an executive member, behind a closed door, write off a law and say: “No, I am not elected by the people of the ACT. In fact I do not really know what goes on there but I am going to use that power to wipe out a law that has been passed by the democratically elected representatives in their local parliament.”
Most people do not think that is okay, and that is what this bill is about. That is why it is important that we support this motion by Dr Bourke today, to say that we do not agree that that should happen; that it is not okay. We believe it is important for this legislation to pass. We believe it is important for the people that we represent to know that the work that we do will be able to be carried out and will not be ridden over by a behind-the-doors strike of the pen. That is what this is about and I would urge all members of this place to support this motion today. I thank Dr Bourke for bringing this motion on.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Industrial Relations) (12.17): I too thank Dr Bourke for bringing this motion before the Assembly today. It is one worthy of unanimous support by this Assembly and it is deeply concerning that it is not going to receive that support today.
I know this is a topic that we have spoken about at some length on a number of occasions, but with the imminent and hopeful passage of the legislation before the House of Representatives in the next few weeks I think it is timely that we remind those who will be taking a vote on this matter—and it does not include federal senators—of the reasons they should support the territories bill. One compelling reason is that their own systems of inquiry in both houses of parliament have recommended that they do so.
As Dr Bourke pointed out, both the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on
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