Page 4780 - Week 16 - Monday, 25 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
grandstanding and flippant comments! That is the sort of thing we expect from someone across the road. I think it was very early in the piece that Mr Stefaniak proposed these amendments. I am not sure whether I can work out the code on the bottom in relation to times, but it would appear to me that those amendments were drafted very quickly after the original Bill was brought down.
The sensible amendments that have been moved should meet the concerns that have been expressed by people in relation to their safety. That includes some of the younger people as well as the elderly people. There seems to be an element within our community who prey on the weak and the small. Some people who partake of alcohol in public places, because that is effectively what they are, do get out of hand and seek to impose their will, in a drunken state, on people who are less fortunate and much smaller than themselves. When a group of these people gather together and are involved in the same sort of activity it is quite frightening for a younger person of 12 or 13 years of age to be confronted by a group of three or four people who are under the influence of alcohol and have been there for some time. It causes considerable concern. I know of people who have refused to use the bus service for that very reason.
If I may speak on a related issue, I note that Mr Connolly referred to the issue of broken glass and syringes in the area of the Woden bus interchange commonly known as the snakepit. There is legislation in place in this Assembly that will provide quite severe penalties for people breaking glass and leaving syringes around the area. To my mind, that constitutes aggravated littering.
Mr Connolly: But the use of syringes is already illegal.
MR JENSEN: They are being left around, Mr Connolly. It is littering, as far as I am concerned, and it is dangerous littering, because it is likely to cause injury to people. There are a number of issues in relation to that. We do not have any problem with the amendments Mr Stefaniak proposes, and we will be supporting the Bill with the amendments.
MR COLLAERY (11.44): This is a case of Mr Stefaniak looming too large at 200 metres but being reasonably acceptable at 50 metres. He has compromised in his Bill, which is more than the Labor Party has done. There was a Labor Party chairperson of the Assembly's Standing Committee on Social Policy, which in February 1990 issued its report on public behaviour. Bill Wood, as chairperson, said in what is in effect a personal preface to the report:
Our personal safety and that of those close to us is, understandably, a matter of great importance. We must be able confidently to exercise our right to move freely, but sensibly, around our city.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .