Page 654 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 July 1989
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MR COLLAERY (9.40): It just occurred to me that I lead four members of this Assembly. Two of us this evening seem to have holes in our shoes, and one of us is going to picket me at the French embassy next week. That truly is democracy. The comments I make will be very short. I will personalise them to some extent, because I believe this is an appropriate moment for people to commit themselves to self-government and all that it means, and to say that I spent probably 20 years of my life dealing mostly with emigre groups and refugee organisations in many parts of the world.
The quest for democracy - a desire for peace and the desire to be heard - is something that will not be quenched in any of the great societies. It is emerging in China now, and in the ACT, in a moderate form, we have achieved a voice after a period of great frustration. But, as my friend Mr Humphries has pointed out, we could have slipped into another dark age. If the Labor Government gets its way and has single-member electorates, it is possible that we could slip back into a dark age when we are not heard.
There is one aspect of Mr Duby's motion that I would enjoin him to consider, and that is clause (b), the form of government most appropriate in the ACT, taking into account responsibilities of State, territory and municipal governments. Municipal governments usually give ratepayers a say in their governance. There are large numbers of non-citizens in this Territory with no say as to the expenditure of their rate moneys.
They do not simply include the international fraternity who are here in a transient sense and who have other benefits of tax deductability and stamp duty exemption; I am speaking of the large number still in this Territory who are non-citizens for a variety of reasons. There is clearly a need for this committee to look at the present state of the art with respect to the promulgation of our citizenship laws, to determine whether they are having an appropriate effect and to determine whether it is appropriate for that committee to make any statement about the number of non-citizens in our community who might very well become voting citizens were they to avail themselves of citizenship.
Mr Speaker, the situation for the Residents Rally during the election period was one of desire for our voice to be heard against a frustrating background of being palmed off, very often by junior officials and private secretaries who would not even give us an audience on important issues in the community, from Tuggeranong to Fraser.
I could count a number of situations when good-natured people - people with Labor and Liberal outlooks - were fobbed off. It was that frustration that gave rise to the Rally, which is likely to be a permanent addition to the democratic structure of this Territory. It is likely to be
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