Page 961 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 31 March 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Mr Cornwell: Who was this?
MR MOORE: That was Mrs Kelly originally. Mr Whalan continued:
In many respects it was not as strong in defending tenants as Ros Kelly had originally hoped.
Mr Whalan referred back to Mrs Kelly dealing with this from 1974 onwards. So, this matter has been going on for the best part of two decades. He went on:
I would say that the sector of the Canberra small business community who are tenants in commercial premises owes a great debt to the endeavours of Ros Kelly.
Twenty years later she still has not delivered. He continued:
There has been no other person who has so consistently and persistently pursued this matter over the years.
Twenty-odd years later, she still has not delivered. He said:
She originated the thing, she has pursued it and on the first opportunity of a change of Government she has taken it up with the Minister -
probably she took it up with the Minister for Territories; there are some great ironies in this, and remember that this is Paul Whalan speaking about Ros Kelly -
to see that this particular sector of the business community does have some improvement in its right before the law.
There is a series of pages from House of Assembly matters that I have in front of me, from May 1984, December 1984, August 1983, and again in August 1985, where this matter was debated. What we are dealing with is not new. Members recognised throughout that time that a code of conduct on its own was inadequate. I think it is important for me to clarify that I believe that the code of conduct has an appropriate place in the work Mr Connolly has been doing under the Fair Trading Act, as advertised in the Canberra Times this Saturday. That should be the first step to resolving disputes.
There will still be cases, as has been shown in New South Wales and other places where a code of conduct is in place, where it simply does not work because there are people, both tenants and landlords, who simply will not manage to play the game in a fair and equitable way. That is when a Bill such as this is necessary, and that is why I see this Bill running parallel to the work Mr Connolly is doing under the Fair Trading Act. It is appropriate that this Legislative Assembly show some courage and give the tenants of this town the rights they are entitled to - fair rents and leases. How can this Assembly talk of supporting small business if it is not prepared to take this quite elementary step? Deferring to the demands and pressures of the sheriffs of Nottingham is, of course, a very Tory stance, Mr Connolly. These stances are what separate a humanitarian government from the traditional House of Lords comprising the landed gentry.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .