Page 2806 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
would be aware of, the South Australian Attorney, who had been a victim of dreadful press treatment by a single newspaper in his town following Operation Hydra by the NCA - a discreditable operation by a now discreditable group - I agreed with Mr Sumner that there were serious problems in city-states like Adelaide and Canberra where there is too much aggregation of power in a single media source.
The whole background to the reference to the Community Law Reform Committee was to try to break into the oligarchic structure of media in this country and to acknowledge the fact that the Attorneys in the big States were largely hostages, to some extent, of the media there and there were very difficult political questions as to whether they could take this pioneering route. I am sorry that the wagons have been drawn into a circle by Mr Connolly. I would have preferred to push on across the scrub and to see what we could do. Nevertheless, I am sure that he is going to put every effort into what he is doing and I commend, at least, his interest. I think he needs to strike out a little on his own, and I encourage him to.
Debate (on motion by Mr Stefaniak) adjourned.
POLITICAL ADVERTISING
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MR SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Mr Stevenson proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
The need for the Chief Minister to call on the Federal Government to withdraw its proposal to ban political advertising on the electronic media, as there is a clear indication that the proposal is not supported by the people, the media, most political parties and a wide spectrum of organisations. The adverse effects it would have on the citizens of Canberra and their democratic and political rights if this dictatorial proposal was implemented.
(Quorum formed)
MR STEVENSON (3.38): The Federal ALP proposed that electronic advertising with a political content would be banned. That involved all advertising, all year and all groups. Since that time there has been some backdown on that original stance. Now the suggestion is that it will apply only to election campaign periods; also there are some groups - charities, specifically - that will no longer be caught by the net that the Labor Party would throw out. For a start, it would suggest that there has been no consultation and/or very bad planning in the first place; the legislation or the attempt at the legislation was not well thought out.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .