Page 654 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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Mr Lamont: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. That allegation is demonstrably wrong. The records of this Assembly show that indeed that was the case over almost a four-year period. The assertion, in relation to the exotic animal ban and the animal welfare working group recommendations, is quite clear. It is factually wrong.
MADAM SPEAKER: Continue, Mr De Domenico.
MR DE DOMENICO: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I thank Mr Lamont for his interjection. As usual, it was not correct, but I thank him, anyway. There was no consultation with the people of Canberra over that issue. If Mr Lamont had been out there at Tuggeranong, for example, when thousands of people - I do not know how many - came to protest against the decision made by the ACT Government, he would have realised that. Those people were not wrong.
The other issue that comes to mind is the abortion situation. There was no promise or undertaking given to the people of the ACT prior to the election that the Government would act in the way it did. It had hidden somewhere in its platform what it was going to do. It kept denying that it was going to do that when the issue was brought up by the Liberal Party. But it went ahead, and there were changes to abortion laws. There was also no mandate given by the people of the ACT for the decriminalisation of marijuana; nor was any mention made of that prior to the ACT election. Once again, that is an issue that some people in the community might consider to be slightly radical.
Ms Ellis: This is ridiculous.
MR DE DOMENICO: I hear the word "ridiculous". Of course it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous because people were not kicking doors down and saying, "Please, decriminalise marijuana. Please, we do not want elephants in circuses". I did not have one representation prior to the ACT election, from people haring across paddocks to my place or to my office, to the effect, "Please, we reckon that banning elephants is going to make it more socially just for our kids". There is nothing wrong with seeing an elephant perform. There is a heck of a lot wrong, though, with being allowed to puff marijuana down the street, and with abortion clinics and the like. Let us get back to reality. Mr Berry, in his usual way, starts talking about protection of workers.
Mrs Grassby: On a point of order, Madam Speaker: The Bill on marijuana was to decriminalise it. It was not to allow people to puff marijuana down the street. It was only to decriminalise it. What is being said is that we have made it legal. We have not made it legal, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mrs Grassby.
MR DE DOMENICO: I thank Mrs Grassby for her interjection as well. It is nice to be able to get all this assistance from members opposite. But the reality is that marijuana has been decriminalised. This Government did not say to the people of the ACT, "Listen, people of the ACT, No. 1 priority is that we are going to decriminalise marijuana; No. 2 priority is that we are going to ban exotic animals from circuses", and so on and so forth. So when we talk about radicalism and why people reject radicalism, I think we need to point the finger at this Government.
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