Page 383 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 1991
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rorting of an electoral system. In the past, the Liberal Party have also been against such a system. One can only believe that they will stand by their principles in the Federal area and this proposal will be defeated. It does bring into discussion the broader question: Should Canberrans have a say in what happens to them?
Mr Moore's matter of public importance suggests that they could, because two government committees have said that they should. I would go a great deal further than that. I would say that it should not be up to one or two government committees or any members of parliament to determine what the members of the electorate should have a say on. It obviously should be up to the members of the electorate themselves.
Members in this house well know the principles that are used to allow that to happen in Italy, Switzerland, America, Canada, Denmark and so on, where citizens can initiate a referendum and where it is out of political hands. If the citizens believe - as in this case - that they should have an electoral system vote, they can have one. Every time members of parliament decide that people can have a vote, it is usually done not for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of the political parties. We saw that when Canberrans were given two votes on whether or not they wanted self-government. On both occasions they said no.
The second time, in 1978, approximately 70 per cent voted against self-government. As that did not accord with what the - - -
Ms Follett: You were not here, Dennis.
Mr Connolly: Somebody told him that.
Ms Follett: They voted for no change; not no self-government.
Mrs Grassby: They said, "No change". They did not vote for no self-government. You had better check it out.
MR STEVENSON: What happened in that 1978 referendum was that some 63 per cent said that they did not want a change. Another 7 per cent said that they would be prepared to accept a local self-government, some sort of municipal council. Actually, the percentage of people in Canberra now that would accept a local council with a mayor - it well could be Mr Kaine as "Mr Mayor" - is probably around the 50 per cent mark. Many people say, "If we had local government, a local council, we would be able to have a say on most of the things we want a say on. It would not cost us all that money as there would not need to be all the trappings that there are with self-government".
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