Page 1191 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 1993
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That is just one issue. We also have to deal with access for the disabled and for the community generally. This forum, on 22 May 1993, will set the pace for sport and recreation and facilities in both of those areas in the ACT. I would like, in closing, Madam Speaker, to congratulate the chair of the Sport and Recreation Council, Ms Sue Baker-Finch. It was a very important decision of government to endorse that forum. It is most important that the work of the Sport and Recreation Council be recognised as it develops sport and recreation, and facilities associated with sport and recreation across the ACT.
Kick Boxing
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is also to the Minister for Sport. I refer to the Government proposal to ban kick boxing in the ACT. I assume, although the Minister has not stated as such, that the reason the Government proposes to ban kick boxing is that it is dangerous. I ask the Minister: How many people have been injured in the ACT in, say, the past 10 years through participation in kick boxing competitions?
MR BERRY: I thank the member for the question because it is a topical issue and one that needs wide broadcasting. It is a dangerous sport. Those of you who have not watched a match might have seen some file footage on one of the TV programs recently where a couple of young women were involved in a bout of kick boxing.
Mr Humphries: Is this a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie?
MR BERRY: No. Do you want to wait and listen? We were able to see a couple of young women brutalising each other in a bout of kick boxing. Blood was running down their faces. That is an injury, in my book. Those people get out in the ring and deliberately set out to damage each other. It is a violent sport. There are no mothers and fathers out there who would want their children exposed to that sort of violence or involved in it.
Mr Kaine: Ban rugby.
MR BERRY: This is not about following a bladder around a paddock. This is a sport where people set out to take each other out and it is designed - - -
Mr Humphries: Unlike rugby league, say, or fencing, or karate - - -
MR BERRY: I can see why Mr Humphries is no longer the sports spokesperson. Even to the casual observer, a game of rugby is about following a bladder around a paddock, but in the case of - - -
Mr Cornwell: It is a long time since you have been to a match, is it not?
MR BERRY: There you go; the new spokesperson is starting to pick it up. It will come to you slowly, as all things come to Liberals - slowly. Madam Speaker, this is a dangerous sport. There are people injured every time there is a bout. The violence portrayed by that particular sport is seen on the television screens and in the pit fights in pubs and bars around the Territory. We are setting out to stop that.
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