Page 464 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 June 1989
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area. Whereas we have taken time to carefully develop, elaborate, explain and modify our policies, this is part of the Residents Rally party's general superficial approach to politics.
I think you can test the position of the Residents Rally party's whole attitude toward environmental issues by considering the position of the Residents Rally party candidate for the seat of Canberra. Katharine West, who has been endorsed as the Residents Rally party candidate for the seat of Canberra, has a clear history - - -
Mr Moore: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. I believe that the Deputy Chief Minister is trying to mislead the House. The information is incorrect and I think it should be withdrawn. To explain more fully, Mr Speaker, there are no - - -
MR SPEAKER: That is not necessary, Mr Moore. There is no point of order involved.
MR WHALAN: The fact of the matter is, Mr Speaker, that Katharine West is a member of the Residents Rally party. Its members are embarrassed by it. Mr Collaery was reported as having said the other day, when there was an article in the Canberra Times which linked Mr Collaery in some way with people from the left of politics, namely the Labor Party, "I need as much connection as I can with the left of politics to overcome the stigma of Katharine West's membership of the Residents Rally party".
It is an embarrassment to some people in the Residents Rally party, I think, to know that Katharine West is its candidate in the electorate of Canberra, and I think the reaction of Mr Moore demonstrates the depth of this embarrassment. I am quite sure that some of the more reasonable people - and there are some reasonable people in the Residents Rally party - would prefer that they had not endorsed Katharine West. I think they would prefer that she would quietly go away, but unfortunately she is a prominent member of the populist movement.
Katharine West, of course, far from being concerned about the environment, has as her main claim to fame in politics the role that she has played in the "Joh for Canberra" campaign, and her very close connections with the National Party in Queensland. Given some of the publicity that we have seen about the National Party in Queensland and the "Joh for Canberra" campaign and the involvement of some of the people in that, I am just concerned as to the extent to which that campaign has penetrated into the Residents Rally party in Canberra. I am genuinely concerned that the Residents Rally party might be a front for the Queensland National Party.
Our commitment to this question of energy is clear. Yesterday we introduced into this Assembly the Nature Conservation (Amendment) Bill of 1989 and the purpose of
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