Page 3951 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 16 December 1992
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Mr Moore: Are you going to resign? You should resign.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Moore says that I should resign. Let me state again that I will be happy to turn the lights out when we all leave. It is one of my fervent hopes.
Mrs Grassby: You have Buckley's chance, Dennis.
MR STEVENSON: Mrs Grassby says that I have Buckley's chance. That is what they said about the Berlin Wall. That is what they said about the subjugation of the Baltic nations. Time will tell. It is not up to members of this house; it is up to the people of Canberra as to what action they take.
I ask that members of this house give the people of Canberra a Christmas present. What greater Christmas present could there be than a very strong move toward democracy? For nearly four years, I have repeatedly, as have other members in this Assembly, brought up the matter of Bills being passed through this house too rapidly to allow a number of things to occur. Firstly, it would be a good idea if all members of this Assembly read each of the Bills - would that not be a wonderful thing? - so that when we voted on these matters we actually knew what we were voting on and were not taking the advice of somebody else. I understand the time strictures in this house. With this motion I seek to give all members the time, the opportunity, to read the laws they are voting for or against.
The people in this community also need the time to find out that a proposed law has been tabled in this house. They need time to obtain a copy of that proposed legislation. They need time to read it in basic form and to work out what it covers. They then need time to present it to their meetings, if they are involved in a group that may be concerned with the proposed legislation. It is not particularly fair for us to require organisations in Canberra to call emergency meetings so that they can debate these issues, because they do not have the time. It would be reasonable if they had the opportunity and the time to schedule the matter on the agenda of their next meeting.
When they have that meeting, they should have the opportunity to discuss the matter fully. They may seek clarification, as we often do, on various aspects of the Bill. They may want to seek clarification from the presenter of the Bill, from someone else within this parliament, from legal counsel or from some other authority or organisation within the ACT or, indeed, outside it. They should be allowed the time to do that. At present they are not. They then should have the opportunity to meet with their members. We understand that some members here find it difficult to make the time to meet with constituents. We should make sure that they have the time to see us and that we do not say, "I am sorry; I cannot see you tomorrow. The Bill is going to be debated in two days' time, unfortunately". We should allow them the time to see us.
We then should allow them the time to take what we have said back to their groups and to other people in the community who are concerned about the proposed law. If they get no assistance from the member or members they speak to, they should have the right to go to another member or members. This may include a Federal member, depending upon the situation. They then should have the time to have any proposed amendments drafted and presented to members of this house. We would then need time to look at them and determine whether or not they were beneficial to the people of Canberra and to the law.
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