Page 2583 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 October 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR CORNWELL (10.43): Madam Speaker, the Liberal Party, in broad terms, supports the motion. It is quite unremarkable really. It is almost a motherhood statement. But I would like to - - -
Mr Kaine: It is an occasion for the Government to pat itself on the back.
MR CORNWELL: Yes, indeed, Mr Kaine. I would like to confine my remarks to paragraph (1) because I think we need to recognise it for what it really is - that is, an attempt to gain a few cheap political points in the Tuggeranong Valley. Madam Speaker, Ms Ellis is fast becoming notorious in this place for her parochialism towards Tuggeranong, a tactic she obviously has learnt well from her guide and mentor Ros "I only approved the cover" Kelly. Whilst this is a legitimate and often successful political ploy, particularly with the ill informed and perhaps the shallow, I suggest that it can also be quite narrow and unfair; and so it is in this case.
I say this because the motion ignores other ACT schools that participated in the 1992 Shell Mileage Marathon. Their efforts have been quite well documented in the Chronicle and in the Valley View.
Mr Kaine: Even in the Valley View?
MR CORNWELL: Yes. I refer to, among others, Stromlo High School. My mention of Stromlo High School prompts Mr Lamont to make snoring noises, as if he were bored with the whole matter. I am sure that the people of Stromlo High will be interested in that response from a member of the Labor Party. Stromlo High School was seventh in the two-seater commuter class, with 312.83 miles per gallon this year, and it has been an entrant in this competition since 1989. I refer also to St Edmund's College, which entered this year for the first time and were winners of a trophy for the best first time entrants with the most innovative engine and transmission development. I refer also to Marist College, whose students were not officially entered by the school. Like the students of St Edmund's, they did most of the work on their machines on their own. They also raised their own funds to participate in this Mileage Marathon.
I do not believe that any of these endeavours detract from the success of the Lake Tuggeranong College entrants. I repeat that the Liberal Party joins with the Government in applauding Lake Tuggeranong College. But I urge you not to overlook or ignore the efforts of other ACT schools. That is, in fact, what Ms Ellis's motion does.
Mr Connolly: Ha, ha, ha!
MR CORNWELL: Mr Connolly finds that amusing. Obviously unlike Mr Connolly, I believe that all young people deserve encouragement and praise for their achievements. I am surprised that the Labor Party obviously does not believe this. Where is their sense of equity? Where is their sense of social justice that they are always talking about out there? Where is this sense of social justice in this narrow, parochial motion - or at least the first part of it is - which appears to be motivated more by an attempt to curry favour and local votes in the Tuggeranong Valley than by a desire to pay the quite fitting tribute that I believe all ACT school participants deserve.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .