Page 4790 - Week 16 - Monday, 25 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I see legislation such as this as in many ways being more relevant to the lives of ordinary Canberrans than some of the more complicated and highfalutin legislation which comes before this Assembly from time to time. Complex legislation often is very important, but Bills such as this often have a very much greater impact on the lives of ordinary people. I believe that this legislation will see a dramatic change in the way in which certain people's lives are affected, and that is a very positive and dramatic change.
I do not believe that we can be accused of putting this Bill forward in a desire to posture and pose before an election. Mr Stefaniak has expressed views of this kind for many years, and his efforts to have this part of the statute book predate self-government. I think it is quite wrong to attribute this to some desire to pose or posture before an election.
I also reject the assertion that this is an attack on the young, on the high-spirited. There is no question of this legislation attacking young people. What we attack through this Bill is behaviour that is unacceptable. Whether it is by people who are young or old, by those who are sober or intoxicated, matters not. This legislation covers circumstances where people behave in an improper, anti-social way in our bus interchanges and other public places and, as such, it seems to me unobjectionable.
Mr Connolly was at great pains to describe the excellence of the Tuggeranong bus interchange, and I concur in that view. I have not looked at it closely, but I have certainly seen it and I think it is an excellent piece of architecture. It deals with problems to do with behaviour through the very broad scope for supervision incorporated in the design.
It needs to be noted that it is not the job of the supervisor of buses, as he sits in his booth, to supervise the behaviour of young people or anybody else in the interchange. He may be able to make contact with others as a result of seeing things there - I assume that there is a telephone or some other communication device in the booth - but it is not his job to go out and break up fights or shoo away people who are harassing elderly citizens. That is the job of other people in the community. It would be a much easier job if legislation such as this were in place, as I am sure it will be in the next few minutes.
Mr Berry made reference to Hindley Street in Adelaide. He talked about the effectiveness of police patrols there. I cannot let that pass without comment.
Mr Connolly: He was quoting the committee.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .