Page 384 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 1991
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The major point here is one to do with democracy. Do the people of the ACT have a right to have a say in what electoral system they have? Indeed, they do. We should do all in our power to ensure, in this case for a start, that they have a say on what sort of electoral system it is, provided we explain it to them clearly and do not call it "Hare-Clark" when very few people understand exactly what that is. We should explain it to them clearly and we should allow them a vote.
In the future, we should allow the people the right to determine on what subject they want to vote via petition presented to this Assembly. What the people can have their referendum on should not be determined by members of parliament . It should be determined by a percentage of the population.
MR COLLAERY (Attorney-General) (4.11): I very much welcome Michael Moore's comments. I was very pleased to hear the parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party in the ACT - our Chief Minister, Trevor Kaine - make his comments. I will not re-traverse both of those excellent statements to the Assembly, other than to endorse them.
From where I stand, I think it is important at this critical juncture, firstly, that we have had this discussion of vital public importance - and we are indebted to Mr Moore for putting it on - and, secondly, that we signal very clearly to people who, perhaps through pressure of business on the hill or elsewhere, are not too clear on our views. This is a week where freedom of the press is vitally important to the people of Australia. There are not too many situations in Australia at the moment where you have the issue of self-determination still alive - probably nowhere else; only in the ACT and perhaps on Norfolk Island. I am not sure. This is an issue of self-determination. It is a vital debate.
I want to deal with a few of the issues that are being thrown into this debate and to expose them. The first and foremost thing I want to expose is the very great need for the Canberra community to remain a homogeneous population. Everyone is familiar with the texts on our city. There are objective studies. I often see my legal colleague Mr Connolly with that excellent book on patterns of Australian cities by an eminent Australian urban geographer. Of course, that text shows - and we all know - that the ACT is one of the most homogeneous populations in Australia.
If we have single member electorates, it is very likely to produce parochial differences of opinion. I live in Narrabundah. I live on one side of Captain Cook Crescent. There is already a division in that suburb. When I first came to Canberra 20 years ago and as a solicitor signed some deeds and documents that said that my address was Narrabundah, people said, "Why did you move into the boondocks?". I cannot forget that. We all remember the Causeway, as it then was. One of my children went to the
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