Page 2764 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I think that is rather convoluted reasoning, personally, and I make the point, Mr Speaker, that the three speakers so far have all been lawyers. I am not a lawyer and I am not approaching this from the position of the law. I am approaching this as an ordinary citizen and in the way this affects me, not in a way it might be argued in a court of law as to what the technicalities of the law are. I think Mr Connolly really is misunderstanding the situation, perhaps for the reason that Mr Humphries pointed out; that they have an ideological base behind the position that they adopt. He seems to be saying that he favours waiting until somebody commits a crime before the police actually do something about it. I think that is quite wrong.
I think that the move-on power is a good provision. It is, in a way, aimed at young people. But I submit that it is aimed at the protection of young people - not to victimise them, but to protect them; to head them off before their behaviour, which in many cases perhaps is simply boisterous, goes over the top and becomes offensive and perhaps becomes illegal. I think that is a good provision.
The evidence suggests that in the two years that this law has been in place it has not led to gross abuse by the police. If it has, there has been no evidence presented here in this debate to demonstrate that that is so. One case was presented. One swallow does not make a summer, and one misuse or error in the law does not make the law bad. I finish as I begin: Mr Connolly's arguments were most unpersuasive, as far as I am concerned. I support the Bill and I would urge those thinking and reasonable members of the Assembly to do likewise.
MR JENSEN (11.22): These days much is made about rights. Any of us with teenage children are often reminded by our children of the rights that those children have and seek to exercise. However, as a parent I feel it is my responsibility to remind my children that these rights also come with certain responsibilities. For example, a licence to drive gives you a right to drive a motor vehicle on the road. However, that does not give you the right to drive in a manner dangerous to the public or to ignore the rules of the road that have been developed to enable everybody to proceed in an orderly manner. It does not give you the right to infringe the rights of others by getting yourself in a position where you are unable to control that car through alcohol and end up in an accident in which people are unfortunately killed or maimed for life. Your right is the right to drive; but the person who has been damaged by another abusing the right also has a right and their civil liberties and rights have been infringed. I find, these days, that I have to continually remind my teenage son of his responsibilities in that area.
Let us now, Mr Speaker, apply this issue of rights to those of our community who wish to exercise the right to walk to the bus stop, to walk through Garema Place in the evening or to wait for a bus at Woden, Belconnen, the Civic
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .