Page 10 - Week 01 - Friday, 27 March 1992
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Prior to the election and prior to the initial Assembly I made a solemn declaration along with other members of our party, our other candidates. The first point was this: Given the numbers in the Assembly, and it would need to be at least nine out of 17, we would abolish self-government. There is no difficulty in doing that, as anyone here would well understand, given the numbers.
The second point we made was that if we did not have the numbers we would seek to gain agreement from other members to abolish self-government. If that was not possible, the third was to seek to have a referendum so that the people of Canberra could once again have a say on whether or not they wanted self-government. We well understand that in 1978, some time ago now, there was a referendum where some 70 per cent of people voted for something other than self-government.
The fourth point we made was that, if we could not achieve any of the first three, we would seek to represent the majority-expressed will of the people. That is what I attempted to do to the best of my ability in the First Assembly, and that is what I will continue to attempt to do in the Second Assembly.
Many people would say, because the vote in this election was not to abolish self-government, that that is not what people want; yet our polls immediately prior to the election and ever since, through self-government, have shown that between 70 and 80 per cent of people have always wanted self-government abolished. I think it was interesting that we were the only people polling and releasing results on whether or not people wanted self-government. After the election, in the Canberra Times, I did see the result of what was said to be a Labor Party poll on whether or not people wanted self-government, and it said that 60 per cent of people had not wanted self-government.
I will work, as I have always worked, to best represent the will of the people. I voted on various issues in the Assembly and I will continue to do so. I have sought to ascertain the will of the people by regular polling throughout the community, and we will continue to do that.
In Australia we have seen more and more that an increasing number of people are voting for Independents. Most parliaments throughout Australia have Independents controlling what is called the balance of power. I think there are some important reasons why people did not want self-government. One of them, of course, is the expense. Many Canberrans do not feel that we who happen to live in the ACT can afford the cost of much of the expenditure that is associated with running a national capital. I think it is relevant to look at the reason why the Commonwealth Government forced self-government on the ACT. It was because of the economics. The suggestion was that they could not afford to look after the ACT. Perhaps many in this community feel that people in the ACT also cannot afford to do that.
I know that a great many people stood and campaigned to serve the people in the best way they saw possible in the last election. One point I would like to make, and make strongly, is that there were many parties and Independents that did not get elected and did not get representation in this Assembly. I think all of us would like to see those parties and those Independents continue to serve the people. It is possible to serve the electorate though not in the Assembly. I would encourage all those members of parties that did get representation and parties that failed to win a seat, and Independents, to continue to represent the people as they see fit. I think that is an important matter.
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