Page 2292 - Week 08 - Thursday, 7 June 1990
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great problems that we have inherited from the Federal Labor Government. I reject Mr Stevenson's motion. Therefore I will certainly vote against it and I regret that he felt he had to bring it forward. I do not think it has served the better purposes of this Assembly.
Finally, may I say to Mr Stevenson that I continue to regret that the ACT has not joined the States of the Commonwealth in the matters we care about. On that matter, I had to bow to a majority vote, as I have bowed to other majority votes on matters I have cared about. On this matter I had a clear choice. If one is a total purist - and I find this is a constant dilemma - one can say, "Right, I have lost that; I now resign". I do not think that is a proper procedure. I do not think resignation is something that should be done lightly. I think it should be kept in reserve for something of very great weight when one thinks one can really make a difference.
I could accept a majority vote of the joint party room or I could resign. It was never a live option for me to resign from the Alliance Government on this issue, not only because I am fully in support of Mr Kaine as our Chief Minister - and he acted totally properly in the way things proceeded in the joint party room - but also because it would have been no more than an ineffective political gesture, a kind of political rhetoric in which I did not wish to be involved.
In any case, there are other much larger issues - I want to agree with Mr Moore here - with which I wish to continue to be involved in the joint party room. One cannot resign over every issue. I wish to be in the joint party room for discussions and debates about such matters as the environment - for example, the Ainslie tip, an issue which is yet to be decided by the Government - and education, another matter which has yet to be decided by the Government. When I say "the Government" I mean the 10 of us who are in the joint party room. (Quorum formed)
Then there is the question of the proposals on section 19, which will come up next month. I stand by my earlier comments, as quoted by Mr Stevenson, and will state them again even more forcefully when he reintroduces his Bill to ban hard-core pornography. But for the moment let us get back to business and give our excellent Chief Minister freedom to get on with the very difficult task of governing this Territory.
MRS GRASSBY (2.58): Mr Speaker, before I start my speech I want to point out that I will be speaking to the amendment, not to Mr Stevenson's motion. I have already told Mr Stevenson the reason for this and he will not like what I am going to say. There is no way that I could vote for anything Mr Stevenson put up. I have in my hands a book entitled Racist Propaganda in Australia: The Handbook of Hate and most of it deals with the League of Rights. I am sorry, but I am afraid I cannot support anybody who attends League of
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