Page 3709 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 October 1990
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Mr Kaine: He is lucky he is not in yours or he would be in deep trouble.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed, Mr Humphries.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (11.45): I might indicate that I regret that I was not quicker on my feet, and I will endeavour in future not to be so tardy when obviously Ms Follett wishes to proceed quickly with other matters. I rise in this debate to support the general thrust of the motion that Ms Follett has moved, subject to the amendments that Mr Duby has moved. I am well aware of the fact that, notwithstanding Ms Follett's protestations that this matter will not be politicised, that it is not a matter of making any political points, and that really all the Opposition is interested in is securing some expression of support for Mr Mandela's visit and for his general aims, no sooner will this debate have finished and these amendments to this motion have been carried, than those opposite will rush into print to tell the media how the Government has not supported Mr Mandela's visit, or has not supported the changing of circumstances and conditions in South Africa, or make some other misrepresentation of our position. I want to make it quite clear that we do, in fact, support the general thrust of the motion moved by the Opposition.
I think it is worthwhile rereading that motion, to get an idea of the flavour of it. I repeat these words in the light of the press release which is going to come out, for sure, accusing us of being somehow the friends of the racist South African regime. The first paragraph states that this Assembly welcomes the visit to the Australian Capital Territory by Mr Mandela. There is no ambiguity in that; we welcome his visit.
The next paragraph states that we applaud his courage in consistently advocating a free and democratic South Africa during his 27 years of political imprisonment. If I were to read that to an audience of ANC representatives or members of organisations that have actively supported Mr Mandela's struggle over a number of years, I cannot see that they could quibble with that. That is a free and emphatic representation of a very strong level of support for Mr Mandela.
Paragraph (3) states that we note that he is regarded by many South Africans as the symbol of their struggle. Again, it is a very broad, very emphatic statement of support. We endorse the decision by the Speaker to mark Mr Mandela's visit to Canberra, and we further resolve to refer the matter of the renaming of Rhodes Place to the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure.
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