Page 2126 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 9 September 1992
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MR STEVENSON: And one over three. I must admit that I had not thought of that. Of course, none over one. However, I heard Mr Connolly and Mr Berry mention - - -
Mr Lamont: Why don't you help and make it 16 out of 17, Dennis?
Mr Connolly: There is the door.
MR STEVENSON: I will be happy to hold it open while we all walk out and then turn off the lights. Mr Connolly and Mr Berry mentioned that if we had a d'Hondt system I would be here forever. I thought it worthwhile commenting on that. It is fairly obvious that members of the Labor Party would rather I not be here. That was well demonstrated on the night of the election and immediately after the election. I think we all saw a very unhappy Terry Connolly interviewed while sitting down, and that surprised me. Why was he sitting down at the time? It may be that what he said - - -
Mr De Domenico: Probably because I was interviewing him.
MR STEVENSON: That is a good one. I have to acknowledge that. Mr De Domenico said that perhaps it was because he was interviewing Mr Connolly. Mr Connolly had a rather glum look on his face. I remind him of this and he acknowledges it. He said that it was very disappointing that obviously Mr Stevenson was going to be re-elected. I wondered what it was that he was worried about.
One thing was obvious from various statements made, not only by Labor Party members. After all, Ros Kelly got on national television and said that prior to Canberrans re-electing Dennis Stevenson she had thought they were intelligent. Now, is that a political statement? I think it was fairly obvious that if she had thought about that statement she never would have made it. It was just a sign of sheer frustration; a total inability not to say anything about it but, "Heavens, he has been elected again". It is interesting that people would be so concerned. That was the level of frustration that obviously there was. The Chief Minister said that Mr Stevenson would be as irrelevant in the next parliament as he was in the last. Whatever the truth of the matter is, that certainly is not it. That was proved by the various remarks, including that of Mr Connolly on the night. Logic would have it.
Once again, let us look at what people in Canberra want as far as an electoral system goes - if they are going to have any electoral system. First of all, about 50 per cent of people in Canberra, according to a survey, want a proportionally representative system where people are elected according to the proportion of people who vote for them; in other words, a system similar to the d'Hondt system. There can certainly be some improvements on d'Hondt, but it was not as bad as some people made out.
Mr Connolly: You would say that.
MR STEVENSON: It has always been the case. I have never changed. I have never said that. There was a huge reaction against it, but people were not arguing from a logical point of view. The majority of people in Canberra, on a survey, wanted a true proportionally representative system. The so-called Hare-Clark system that Ms Follett said that she was going to introduce is not a proportionally representative system. A system that does not allow
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