Page 2147 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 May 1991
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Mrs Grassby: What are you doing here then? Why did you not resign?
MR STEVENSON: That was ignored, and 10 years later it was forced on the people of Canberra. In this Assembly on 4 July 1989 I introduced a motion to refer the constitutional legality of this Assembly to a committee of this Assembly so that we could all resign, Mrs Grassby. What happened with that motion to simply look at the constitutional legality, not to decide that it was unconstitutional? I agree that there are people with an understanding of law who say that it is not unconstitutional, but then again there are many people with an understanding of constitutional law who indicate that it is unconstitutional.
What should be done is that the matter should be looked at. What I referred to this house was that this matter should be looked at. This house voted 16 to one that the matter should not be looked at. There was no desire whatsoever by any other member in this house even to allow the matter to be referred to a committee.
Mr Duby: This house also voted 16 to one to inquire into self-government.
MR STEVENSON: But missed the major point of the - - -
Mr Duby: Remember that you were opposed to that. You voted against that.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Duby!
MR STEVENSON: Indeed; and the reason I voted against the self-government committee was that I thought at the time - I continue to do so - that it was a farce because the vote refused to allow a term of reference to look at the constitutional legality, the very thing that this unconstitutional parliament was based on. Not only did it ignore the constitutional law; it also ignored the will of the people.
At the time, 70 per cent of people said that they did not want it. Our recent polls - the most recent one being of over 1,000 people - showed that 79 per cent of people in Canberra want self-government abolished now. Politicians can run power plays in this Assembly about who gets the numbers to make the decisions that Canberrans do not want, but this will never take away the fact that the vast majority of people in Canberra do not want self-government at all.
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