Page 1659 - Week 06 - Thursday, 13 August 1992
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Police Force
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is to the Attorney-General. I ask whether the Minister has seen a poem written by Dr John Tomlinson of the ACT Council of Social Service and published in the Green Left Weekly on 15 July this year, part of which reads:
There are too many cops here in Canberra,
coppers who bash and who maim.
But the bourgeoisie of the ACT
wants more of them all the same.
They had a Commissioner in Canberra,
who shot him we'll never know.
But it's one cop less
and it caused no distress.
I seek leave to table that poem.
Leave granted.
MR HUMPHRIES: Thank you, members. Madam Speaker, I ask the Minister: Is there any substance to Dr Tomlinson's claims? If there is not, will the Government join the Liberal Party and, I hope, the Independents in this place in condemning the vilification of our local police force by Dr Tomlinson?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I have not seen that poem or that publication. Does Mr Humphries say that that poem was authored by Dr Tomlinson?
Mr Humphries: Yes, it was.
MR CONNOLLY: I must say that I find appalling any poem, ditty or other thing which seeks to make a joke or be humorous about the assassination of Assistant Commissioner Winchester. That is all I can say. It is quite distasteful and inappropriate. One can quite properly have a debate about the appropriate number of police in a community and the appropriateness or otherwise of the Ombudsman and the Internal Investigation Unit; but I would have to say that I agree, on Mr Humphries's reading of that poem, that it is quite distasteful, and I abhor it.
Parking Restrictions
MR STEVENSON: My question is to the Minister for Urban Services, Terry Connolly. It concerns unnecessary restrictions on parking in the city. The northern side of Ainslie Avenue outside the City Markets has meter parking with signs displayed stating "15 Minute Meter Parking". It seems unnecessary to place such restrictions on parking for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Could these signs be altered to indicate parking restrictions for relevant times only, similar to the meter parking signs on the opposite side of Ainslie Avenue?
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