Page 394 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
fond of coming in here and referring to them. That may play to a certain part of Mr Hanson’s electorate, but it is patronising. It dismisses the strongly held views, ambitions, hopes and determinations of young people in this city who this legislation seeks to empower.
We should always raise an eyebrow of concern whenever anyone in elected office is afraid of being held to account by more people in their community. Irrespective of who you vote for, irrespective of your position on this particular legislation, everybody in our community should raise an eyebrow when anyone in elected office shows fear, resistance or contempt for the idea that more people within their community, more students, more workers, more tenants—
Mr Hanson: More schoolchildren.
MR DAVIS: —more students. That is right, Mr Hanson. More students would—
Mr Hanson: More schoolchildren. Make them criminals. You want to make them criminals.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Hanson.
MR DAVIS: —seek to hold this government, this parliament and everyone who seeks to serve within them, accountable. Everyone should be very concerned about that. There will be a lot of opportunities to have robust, substantive, detailed debates on this legislation when it comes back to the Assembly. I look forward to even more Canberrans engaging in a very considered way in that debate, as they have through this committee process. We heard from Mr Cain, in his tabling statement, talk about how many people took part in the survey. We know that this is an issue that many Canberrans care about, with strong views on both sides. I accept that, but we have a responsibility in this place to make sure, when we are having conversations with the electorate about complicated issues on which there are strong views, that we do it honestly and we do it earnestly.
I hope that we can do that. I hope that we can treat young people—future ratepayers, future mortgage holders, future electors—irrespective of whether this legislation passes, with a little bit more respect and with a little bit more regard for their intelligence, for their values, for their views, instead of treating those young people, as Mr Hanson says, like kids.
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (11.40): I was not going to say anything as well, but I feel the need to do it since I have five children. Four of them would be of voting age if it were to drop down to 16. I have a 14-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old, 19-year old and a 20-year-old, and I feel compelled to thank Mr Hanson for defending the rights of these children who do not want to be politicised in their school environment or at the shops where they like to hang out.
I feel that the whole discussion has been hijacked by the Greens, because one of the main points that was raised in the inquiry was the increased amount of bullying being done to children in schools. I have seen and heard from my own kids that when a rally
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video