Page 678 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2018
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For many seniors it is a way of keeping engaged with the community, keeping their minds active and using the years of experience that they have garnered. They have reached a point in their lives where they may be physically, mentally and financially able to give back to the community through volunteering and contributing to policy debate. Yet this government is continually devaluing, degrading and dismissing their contribution. Communication is not just a hashtag or a one-word tweet, unless, as this Chief Minister seems to be moving towards, you adhere to the Trump model of communication by Twitter.
I also want to make some comments directly relating to the crossbench. These arrogant and out-of-touch comments from the Chief Minister will continue unless we as an Assembly call him out for this and hold him to account. The Chief Minister, with his apology that was not an apology this morning, has not taken responsibility for his actions. He is sorry he was caught out, not for what he said. We have the responsibility to call him out and say, “This is not good enough.”
The Canberra Times of 12 March reported:
Ms Le Couteur also hit out at Mr Barr’s apparent dismissal of the views of older Canberrans, saying that even people over 60 years old were important and “the most rapidly growing demographic in the ACT”.
So I say to Ms Le Couteur, “Just this once, won’t you back up your words in the paper with your vote in the Assembly? Do not come into the chamber, having told us in the media what you think, and then vote a different way. Do not say one thing out there and another thing here in the chamber.” We see you do it. Are you happy with what the Chief Minister said or will you fall back into line once again, pretending to be a crossbench to those out in the public arena but refusing to act as one in the chamber?
If you vote against this censure motion you are allowing him to degrade you and your views. You are allowing him to ignore you and your views. We know that Mr Rattenbury is shackled to the government, as a minister, but Ms Le Couteur is not. If you choose to oppose this motion, you are endorsing his comments. Expressing hatred and contempt for part of the community, based on their occupation, age, race, religion or any other demographic, is contrary to the code of conduct for members of the Legislative Assembly, which states that members should treat all citizens of the Australian Capital Territory with courtesy and respect the diversity of their backgrounds, experiences and views. It also states that ministers are rightly expected to uphold and demonstrate the highest standards of personal and professional conduct and must act with integrity, probity and respect for others.
The parliamentary agreement between Mr Barr, on behalf of ACT Labor, and the two Greens members commits itself to social inclusion and participation in community life, but it is quite clear from Mr Barr’s comments that that social inclusion does not apply to everyone. Can you imagine the outrage if these comments related to a multicultural group, women or a disability group, and we said. “We hate them and we are not going to consult them anymore; we do not care about their views”? But it seems to be okay for Mr Barr to say that about seniors.
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