Page 2302 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
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are considering this, what about some persuasion; what about presenting the accounts there? If the accounts are horrid - and I know that they are in the ACT - present them to the people. Let them look at the books. They will get as much of a shock as the Alliance did when they got in there. So, let us do this.
Also, throughout the ACT there should be community noticeboards where the proposals that are being considered by the members of the Assembly are listed - the sitting dates, the phone numbers of the members here, whatever the Assembly committees are, and so on. It should all be there on the noticeboards. You may well have 40 of them around the ACT. That is similar to the number in the North Sydney electoral area. In the ACT we should also have an electoral system that represents the majority view of the people. I have surveyed extensively what sort of an electoral system people want in the ACT, and it is a proportionally representative system.
Mr Connolly: That is not what the Canberra Times said.
MR STEVENSON: I will give you a copy of the media release that I put out when the Canberra Times first gave the farcical idea that the majority of people wanted a single member electorate system. I suggest one of two things to the ALP: Either do the poll yourselves and tell us the results, which will be, unless you ask rorted questions, a proportionally representative system; or, if you have done it, release the results. It is this idea of political parties polling for their own benefit. I know that everybody does polls around here, but they do not release them to the people because they are not done for the people; they are done for the party. Do them for the people and release them for the people. Let them know what the polls have shown.
In an electoral system we also should have a situation where, as far as electoral funding goes, if you get one vote you should get the 50c or the dollar, or whatever it is. There should not be a system that favours the machine parties, whereby you have to get 4 per cent, or whatever it is; otherwise you do not get a cent. That is not democracy.
Once again, what we see is a situation where we hear the right things but we do not see the right actions. We should understand that we in this Assembly are not here to lead the people by the nose. They are our employers; we are the employees. They are the masters; we are the servants - and we should behave as such. When we use the glowing words that are written in speeches talking about consultative government, supporting the community and all the rest of it, what we should keep in mind, and what the people of Canberra should look for, is actions, not words.
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