Page 4782 - Week 16 - Monday, 25 November 1991
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He has stood with me on many occasions at human rights and civil rights gatherings, which is more than can be said for the protesters I saw outside Natex on the weekend. I have not seen many of them at the real human rights demonstrations; nor have I seen a lot of other people.
I want to take this opportunity, as the Assembly winds down, to say in relation to the 50 metres that the closer you get to Mr Stefaniak the more likable he becomes. I put that on the record for the last three years. I warn members that we should look at this legislation free of Mr Stefaniak's somewhat political grandstanding statements at times about law and order. The fact is that this is not an extreme proposal. It does not affect civil liberties or rights.
Mr Berry: Oh, cut it out. Come on!
MR COLLAERY: Mr Berry says, "Oh, come on!". Try to restrict the sale of alcohol at a firepersons union banquet and you would see a huge reaction.
The Rally has no trouble about the bus interchange dry areas. We will watch carefully to see how this provision works - because it will surely be passed today - around shops and licensed premises. Those of us who go past the Sydney Building at late hours or go to Manuka, where we used to go after the theatre, will see people drinking all over the footpath. When you come out of a coffee lounge you stumble over the empty stubbies that are all over the footpath. If you go down in the early mornings to some of these areas, you see what they leave behind on the seats: The glass, the litter and all the rest.
Some of that stems from drinking right outside the doors of these taverns and discos. If there is no furniture and the licence does not permit it, what is wrong with Mr Stefaniak enforcing it a little further? Do not forget that what Mr Stefaniak is trying to do here is already reinforced to some extent, although Mr Connolly did not take the point, within the Liquor Act 1975. There are already laws about liquor being served outside the door of licensed premises that do not have a licence for outdoor seating and the rest.
What is extraordinary about giving a 50-metre zone around the front and back of the Private Bin, for instance? I could not support more the need for more security around that dreadful precinct, with the numbers of violent attacks there are on innocent people around it. Go to the Magistrates Court and you will hear the Private Bin mentioned just about every morning. It is time we looked at things, tintacks, and decided on a bit of public safety around that place.
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