Page 2063 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992
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Later on in the day I learned that an Assembly member was going to South Africa. I thought to myself, "Who on earth would go to South Africa at the invitation of the South Africa Forum, which of course has the patronage of the South African Government, while this sort of thing is going on?". I thought to myself, "Nobody would possibly do that" - until I learned not only that it was Mr De Domenico but also that he did not care what had happened in South Africa; he was not going to change his mind just because of the massacre in Ciskei.
Mr Connolly: He said that he would not protest.
MR BERRY: And he would not protest. So I thought to myself, "What on earth drives this person?". I did a bit of a search around in the local media, and I saw an article in the Canberra Times of 15 May which gave me some enlightenment about what Mr De Domenico's motives were. "De Domenico moves to evict 'eye-sore embassy'" is the headline. The article stated:
The ACT Liberal Party called yesterday - - -
Mr Humphries: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. You ruled earlier today about questions of pay-offs and so on. Clearly, Mr Berry is making the assertion that Mr De Domenico - - -
Mr Connolly: He has not made any assertion yet.
Mr Humphries: He is going to, and he should not be allowed to. He is going to make the assertion, obviously, that Mr De Domenico is receiving his trip to South Africa as a pay-off for some kind of service rendered to the South African Government.
Mr Connolly: You are making that suggestion.
Mr Berry: You should withdraw that. You should withdraw that shameful attack on your colleague.
Mr Humphries: It is your time you are using up. If that is Mr Berry's intention, I ask you, Madam Speaker, to ask him not to do that. It would certainly be in breach of the order that you yourself made earlier today.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Humphries, for reminding me of my order. I will listen very carefully to Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: The article stated:
The ACT Liberal Party -
not just Mr De Domenico; the whole of the party -
called yesterday for the removal of the "eye-sore" Pan-African Congress "embassy" outside the South African embassy.
Of course, that is something the South African Embassy has been trying to do for years and has not been able to achieve. But who comes to their aid? Mr De Domenico. I thought to myself, "Well, that demonstrates Mr De Domenico's political position in relation to the racist South African regime.
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