Page 5065 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Aidex - Costs
MR KAINE: I preface my question to Mr Connolly as the Attorney-General by saying that I have noted Mr Connolly's remarks in connection with what is happening at Aidex and this is not a politically biased question. Can the Minister tell us what it has cost for extra police to take care of the problem at Aidex? Secondly - and he may prefer to pass this on to somebody else - can he estimate the loss of revenue to the Territory through people being kept away from Aidex by the unruly element that is causing all the trouble out there? I know that there are some elements that are not unruly.
MR CONNOLLY: I think the events of the last few days have clearly vindicated the view the Labor Government put in the last debate on Aidex that Aidex does not generate revenue or income for this town, that in fact the holding of this arms exhibition in Canberra is a net cost to the revenue. The last estimation - and Mr Kaine would appreciate that it is very much an estimation - is that there will probably be a cost to the public purse of in the order of $250,000 to $300,000 in police resources and court resources. Police overtime is at a massive level because we have had to put every available police officer out there to keep the peace. We are in a situation where at the moment we have had 24 police members injured, seven of them having suffered broken bones.
It is a great disappointment to the Labor Government, which is committed to peaceful opposition to the arms exhibition, that a minority of individuals have chosen to act in a very violent fashion. We have expressed our abhorrence of the use of violence and the extreme hypocrisy of any individual who stands for peace but acts violently. There have been incidents such as the slashing of car tyres, which indicates that knives have been present, and the severing of a brake cable on a police vehicle. Had the police not noticed it and had someone got into the police van and attempted to move it, there would have been the predictable passive resistance in front of the van, possibly involving children, and there could have been loss of life.
I am told that only this afternoon there has been an attempt to tap into an ACTEW high voltage line and electrify the fence, which could have resulted in loss of life both to the protesters who were trying to do it and to security personnel.
It has been a massive cost to the Territory. Most of the businesses at Aidex are from out of the Territory. I reject claims that it would be a massive income earner for the Territory; rather, it is costing the public purse. I would like to say, though, as I have the opportunity, that on the brighter side at lunchtime today there was a
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