Page 6286 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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Valedictory
MR STEVENSON (8.04): Mr Humphries left himself out and that was so that I could, perhaps, put him back in. I think that at No. 5 on the Liberal ticket it is a wonder that Mr Humphries could put his attention on what he has done today so well. I think that what he is really concerned about after the elections is whether he will be able to say, "I'm free".
Big Bill Stefaniak mentioned that he might not be back. Perhaps if he could get some of those footballers to pack down behind him they could give him a push over the line. He might make it with a quota of his own and do a bit of jumping.
Mr Prowse said, most pointedly, at the start of his speech - this is the bit that he certainly wrote himself - when he talked about abolishing self-government, that it is here to stay. That, as always, is really in the hands of the people, where the power lies. I know that members of parliament think that they have the power, but in the final analysis - and history shows us this - the power lies in the hands of the people, and all they would need to do at any time is decide that they want to use it. It has been done very effectively in Australia's history.
I certainly thank people in the secretariat and the attendants. One thing that can be said is that the staff of other members in the Assembly have been most helpful indeed, many times. I also would like to thank, as no-one else has, the security staff and the cleaners. I think you can understand that I have a better understanding of them than anyone else here.
There is no doubt that the election, whatever else it brings, will bring interest to not only all of us but also a lot of people in Canberra. Who really knows what will happen? We all have our ideas. The many people who will stand for new parties and the new independents, as they call them, have their ideas. If you add up the number of people that are going to be elected to this Assembly, from talking to people, we are already around about 40. I am not sure that there are enough seats for us.
One of the things I have thought for a long time as I think about how things are in the Assembly is that we need to get on better. Being 16 to 1, I suppose the suggestion is that I have not got on all that well with some people at different times, although in the case of the discrimination legislation that has been mentioned a couple of times I would like to thank Mr Duby for voting with me at least once, even if it was a mistake.
I think the answer in Australia is that we do get on better together. People in the Labor Party and the Liberal Party and every other party are not really going to make it separately, although we might think that is the case. We
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