Page 2453 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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MR DUBY: That was simply done. The second point that has been made is that this is going to cost the community substantial sums of money. It is not. Just recently, I tried to obtain the use of a pavilion at the Natex Centre for a time later in 1992.
Mrs Grassby: That would not be the Saturday - - -
MR DUBY: No, it certainly would not. It has nothing to do with anything political, I can assure you. Mr Speaker, I can assure you that that Natex Centre is booked solid. There is a waiting list as long as your arm, plus more, for the use of that site. If these people are not allowed to book in 1993, there will be a queue from here to the end of Civic Square to take the use of that spot. There may even be uses for that spot that will bring more visitors to Canberra and the influx of more money into the economy than we would ever get from an arms exhibition.
I, personally, cannot imagine how many hundreds of people would be coming to an arms exhibition; but, from my understanding of what occurs at Natex, there would be just as large a crowd coming for a whole range of purposes, whether it be a german shepherd dog show, a wine exhibition or whatever. The place is very, very popular, and it is booked solid. This baloney that we are going to lose money from cancelling the 1993 show is, frankly, just that - a lot of baloney. I support and endorse the attitude of the Government. I, frankly, feel embarrassed that I, in my capacity, did not realise that this would be occurring in 1991. I can say only that if I had known I would have done everything within my power to make sure that this current show did not go ahead.
MR HUMPHRIES (8.45): I hate to throw a bucket of cold water over the feverish moralising which is going on in this chamber at the moment, but the fact of life is that those around the chamber who are glorying in their great moral righteousness in keeping away this nasty arms bazaar are forgetting a few salient features of this debate. First of all, it is a misconception to think of this biennial arms exhibition as an exercise in selling principally to people like Saddam Hussein, Colonel Gadaffi or the warlords of Burma or Myanmar. It is, in fact, an exercise in selling arms to the Australian Government. Let us not forget that. The major purchaser of arms at this exhibition - - -
Mr Stefaniak: The only purchaser.
MR HUMPHRIES: In fact, I am reminded by my colleague Mr Stefaniak, the only purchaser of arms at this exhibition is the Australian Government - a government of the same persuasion and the same party as that to which Mr Connolly so bravely announces his allegiance, the party which he is so proud to belong to. It is his own party, in Federal government, which is buying these very arms which he says are so repugnant.
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