Page 2813 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
and polls of the populace about listening to the people's wish, I must remember, "Hang on, that is not the right question to ask, because they will not give me the answer that I want". What a load of baloney.
Mr Stevenson: I agree with you. The suggestion is.
MR DUBY: The suggestion is, Mr Stevenson, that, if you went out and polled the people in the electorate at large on whether they wanted to have to sit through drones like me - and you, for that matter, and the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition - rabbiting on about political issues, the answer that they would always give is, "Of course I do not. I would much rather sit down and watch Neighbours". That is the fact of the matter, whether you like it or not. Whether you like it or not, that is what the truth of the matter is. In private opinions you will find that most people will supply that answer. Of course, for political reasons, they often have to say, "No, we must defend the great right of freedom of speech".
This brings me to the point that Dr Kinloch raised concerning freedom of speech. He mentioned, of all people, Bob McMullan in this debate. Senator McMullan is a wonderful person; I have great respect for him. But, in terms of Bob McMullan being able to advocate the banning of political advertisements, Dr Kinloch raised the question: How could he do that when he is a great advocate of freedom of speech? Well, I put the question to you, Dr Kinloch: How can the greatest proponent in the Territory, to my knowledge, of single member electorates be a person who is elected to the Senate on a proportional basis?
Of course, once again, this simply shows that this is nothing more than a political debate. It has nothing to do with commonsense, and nothing to do with what people might privately think. It is a political debate. The simple fact of the matter is that to ask this Assembly to have the Chief Minister call on the Federal Government to withdraw its proposal to ban political advertising is, frankly, a waste of time. It does not matter what motions we pass in this Assembly; I can assure you - and I will guarantee that Ms Follett will back me up here - that there is no way known that she is going to jump in her little Laser and cross the lake to go to see the Prime Minister to say, "I am here under the instructions of the Assembly to tell you that you have been doing something wrong and you should stop it".
Mr Collaery: I would like to see it.
MR DUBY: So would I.
Mr Stevenson: The fact that it should happen and someone may not do it is an entirely different matter, isn't it?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .