Page 393 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 22 March 2022
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Those are not my words. I have not put those words in anyone’s mouth. I have read out messages that have been written by children, parents and adults about climate change.
I also think it is really important—particularly in this room but in all of our public duties—that we make sure when we quote someone that we quote them truthfully and accurately. So please take a little bit of care, if you are quoting me, that you are quoting my words, and that you are not attributing somebody else’s words to me. That is quite important to me. Truth and honestly is quite important. And it is really important when you are attending rallies or listening to your constituents’ voices, that you hear what they are saying and acknowledge that. That is not a politicised message. If you are saying, “Somebody has raised this concern and now I am repeating it,” that is simply giving a voice to somebody else.
MR DAVIS (Brindabella) (11.35): It was not my intention to speak today. It was my intention to reserve my remarks until the substantive debate when the bill returns to the Assembly.
Mr Parton: However—
MR DAVIS: However, Mr Parton! However, it was impossible to sit in my office and listen to Mr Hanson’s comments without coming down and offering an alternative view—a counter proposal.
Mr Parton interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: The member will be heard in silence, Mr Parton.
MR DAVIS: It is not often that I seek to amplify the message of the Canberra Liberals, nor is it often that I encourage the people of Canberra to listen intently to the contributions of the Canberra Liberals, but on this occasion I would like to ask every young person in this city to go back and listen to Mr Hanson’s speech. I would like to encourage every young Canberran to hear for themselves the contempt that the alternative government holds young Canberrans in. The patronisation of young people in Mr Hanson’s speech and the suggestion that young people could not possibly handle the competing stresses in their lives, and that the empowering act of voting—the empowering act of deciding who gets to make decisions for them and about them—would be an added burden, an additional stress.
I put it to you, Mr Assistant Speaker, to everybody in this chamber, and to those in the Canberra community, that the decisions being made in this place, and particularly decisions being made up on the hill, are contributing to stress and anxiety, not just in young people but in the entire electorate. The Canberra Liberals are suggesting that young people are being protected, shielded or guided from the stress or burden of holding us to account and keeping us in line, and stressing to all of us what they think and feel about what we say and do once every four years.
It will do you a favour, “kids”, to take a point from Mr Hanson. They are not “young people”, “drivers”, “workers” or “students” but “kids”. That is how Mr Hanson is
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