Page 1253 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Another argument that has been put forward by the Minister tonight is that young audiences flock to existing bouts which have been described to me as "pit fights". It appears there is a strong following among young people of Jean-Claude Van Damme, as Mr De Domenico has described, and other kick boxing personalities to the extent that there is a television series based on the exploits of a kick boxer. If we ignore the fact that the sport is practised, which on all the available evidence has a good following, we risk allowing that aspect of kick boxing to become dominant. If young people are attracted to the sport, let them go and see well-organised controlled bouts of skill where they can admire the athleticism and skill of the combatants. I accept the reality that many spectators do want to see blood and injury, but I feel that the Government does not need to address the wants of these spectators but to meet the needs of the contestants. To me, those needs are adequate regulation and control of their sport and sufficient protection and medical supervision for contests.
I have been informed that the re-emergence of the boxing tent as a sideshow has also raised concern about kick boxing competitions in these environments. I agree that such environments are not appropriate if they lack supervision and control, and competitors should never be encouraged to participate from the ranks of the untrained and unskilled. By including kick boxing in the range of boxing contests covered by the Boxing Control Bill we prevent these contests from occurring in the ACT. If additional measures are deemed to be necessary to control such contests, the Minister can use his power under the Act to refuse any application to allow a boxing contest at an inappropriate venue or under inappropriate circumstances.
Madam Speaker, I have often, in the past, advocated regulation and control over and above prohibition as the way to ensure harm minimisation and monitoring of activities which have risk associated with them. From a philosophical point of view, I am convinced that in seeking to ban an activity completely we encourage entrepreneurial talents to be channelled into avoiding detection. The illegal and prohibited have a mystery about them, and I am sure, as many members of the Assembly have acknowledged in their voting on other subjects, that prohibition has not worked in many areas of human activity. For many centuries, and in diverse cultures, for example, governments have sought, to varying degrees, to ban prostitution. The fact is that overt activities which are banned become covert, and I am ideologically opposed to ignoring the existence of the sport of competitive kick boxing, burying our collective heads in the sand, rather than bringing it under the regulatory control of the Minister for Sport.
I am not concerned with arguments about the violence level of the sport. That and other concerns can be addressed by the Minister on the passage of this Bill with the amendment and deletion I have proposed. There is sufficient scope for the Minister to influence venues, conduct of the bouts, protective gear, medical practitioner attendances at contests, procedures and records kept in relation to contests, and which rules are to apply. Indeed, the scope for influencing the codes of practice that the proposed Act allows for is so wide that the Minister can use his discretion on almost any matter related to contests. That is moderated, Madam Speaker, by the scrutiny of codes of practice by this Assembly, which should act as a moderating force when the codes seem too lax or too restrictive. Therefore I feel that the Boxing Control Bill provides the perfect mechanism for ensuring that the concerns that have been raised with me about kick boxing are dealt with in a fair and professional manner.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .