Page 834 - Week 03 - Thursday, 25 March 1993
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MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, I am not going to be drawn into answering Mr Berry's interjections, because they are as silly as his answers to questions from time to time. Madam Speaker, let us have a look at another thing that Mr Lamont perhaps should have spoken about being achieved by 2001. Hopefully, by 2001 the concept of self-government will be accepted by the people of the ACT and the rest of the community outside the ACT as being something that should be looked up to. As I said, Madam Speaker, with the shenanigans that happened in this place yesterday, with portable phones ringing across the other side of the house and people coming in and playing Scottish tunes, it is no wonder that people have the perception of the ACT that they do.
Mr Wood: Where do you stand on a republic?
MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Wood asks me a very interesting question. Mr Wood, I will tell you where I stand on a republic. At this stage I do not believe that anybody is kicking anybody's door down to change the system that we currently have. Mr Wood, if you read history books you will see that, as far back as 1986, there was a certain Act of Parliament whose long title was "An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation". That was an Act put forward by your Government, a Federal Labor government, in 1986.
Mr Kaine: That was Bob Hawke.
MR DE DOMENICO: Bob Hawke did it, to make us a sovereign nation from 1986. Mr Wood, my stance is: If the people of Australia ultimately want us to change the name and call ourselves a republic for the sake of calling ourselves a republic, so be it.
Mr Wood: It is more than a name change.
MR DE DOMENICO: That is where I disagree with you, Mr Wood. It is literally no more than just a name change and the way we elect a head of state, or perhaps appoint a head of state, or whatever. My stance is that, if the majority of the people in this country decide in a referendum that that is the way they want to go, I will support their wishes. Mr Wood, let me also say that I as an - - -
Mr Lamont: So you are still on the fence?
MR DE DOMENICO: No. You just listen. More than some people in this room, Mr Lamont, I can honestly say to you that I have no ties at all to a British monarchy - none whatsoever. I came to Australia as a migrant. Australia is the country that I wished to migrate to. Notwithstanding what anybody says about Australia, it is the best country in the world. I am here by choice, and that is the way it should be. That is where I stand on the whole issue. I have no personal ties to any British sovereign monarch. However, if the majority of Australians disagree with you, Mr Lamont, I am prepared to say that that is the way we ought to go. If they in fact agree with you - - -
Mr Lamont: They do.
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