Page 595 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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Mr Speaker, I have made my apologies for the lapse, and my apology to Mr Johnston has been accepted. Courteous people move on.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (12.12): Ms Burch has circulated some amendments. I know she will be moving them later, but the Greens will support those. I stand by the comments made last week in regard to censuring Mr Hargreaves. Mr Hargreaves chose to make comments about the Tuggeranong Community Council, and they are not comments I share, nor do other members. I reiterate: to put forward the argument that because we did not support the censure we are therefore condoning the comments is completely incorrect. I go along to those meetings; I am a regular attendee at Tuggeranong Community Council meetings, as are other members at other community council meetings across the ACT. Ms Le Couteur is probably the most regular attendee of any community council meetings, in fact. To say that we then condone these comments is completely incorrect, and the other members know that.
With respect to Mr Smyth’s motion, I do not believe at all that Mr Hargreaves was seeking to slur older Canberrans by what he was saying. I am not wanting to be flippant when I make these comments, and I am not fully aware of Mr Hargreaves’s age, but he has mentioned to me that he is in the realm of seniors and older people. Again, I am not wanting to be flippant by making that comment, but I do not believe in any way that what Mr Hargreaves was saying was slurring older people. I have seen Mr Hargreaves at events where there are older people, including the launch of the 55 Plus Club at Tuggeranong, which Ms Burch, Mr Hargreaves and I were all at. I know you have been a great supporter of that club over the years and you have been a key driving force of actually getting that club established. I think that should be noted. That does not show disrespect for older Canberrans at all.
I know Mr Hargreaves has spoken in favour of volunteers on a number of occasions here. Again, I do not believe at all that the comments were seeking to slur volunteers in any way. The Chief Minister has apologised and spoken personally to Darryl Johnston, as has Mr Hargreaves. I know that has occurred. Yes, I recognise the fact that that is not the whole council, and Mr Hargreaves has apologised today to the whole of the council. But the president is the spokesperson and the representative of the TCC. I speak to Mr Johnston regularly when I am speaking about Tuggeranong Community Council events or wanting to have items published in the newsletter and the like. That has to be recognised.
I note on this point that Mr Johnston has said to me that he needs to present the letter to the executive, and I imagine this would be the same for any correspondence. But the letter from Mr Hargreaves will be presented to the TCC executive and then to a general meeting where the members will accept or reject the letter. This will determine whether or not they think further redress needs to be undertaken. I think we should be respecting those processes.
I sent a copy of Mr Smyth’s motion to Mr Johnston. He had not seen the motion at that stage. As I said, Mr Johnston is the TCC president and spokesperson. He is the person that the media speak to when they are seeking TCC comment. He should have been informed about the motion and its content at the very least to see if this is
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