Page 1386 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 12 May 1993
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A third point is that the Federal Government has chosen the form of government the ACT will have. It is clear, and it has always been clear to me and to other speakers in this debate, that the Federal Government's intention was to give the ACT responsibility for its own affairs. Let us get on and do the job.
The final point I wish to make is one which concerns the action that we as Assembly members can take to increase our credibility in the eyes of our electorate, and it relates to our own behaviour as MLAs. Mr Cornwell made quite a few eloquent remarks on this subject. I believe that it is part of the community's desire to see the ACT Legislative Assembly as a city council. To my mind, part of the reason for that relates to the view that community members have that they want us to be accessible, approachable and responsive to local issues. I believe that we can do this without necessarily changing the structure of government that we have.
It was said in the Canberra Times editorial today that Mr Humphries referred to that one of the greatest strengths of this Assembly is the committee system; the work that Assembly committees accomplish in a non-partisan way, addressing many issues of community concern. We have fine examples of this. The Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee has produced a report, "Renewable Energy - The Case for Energy Efficiency in the ACT"; the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee inquired into the possible use of the $19m casino premium and came up with a unanimous report; the Social Policy Committee in December last year produced a report on aged accommodation and support services which was supported by all groupings in this Assembly.
In concluding, I would like to re-emphasise what I consider to be the most important component of this debate. The public standing of this Assembly in the community is in our own hands. It is up to us to perform as a credible State and local parliament and to earn the respect of those people in the ACT that we represent.
MR MOORE (4.54): My response when I heard Mrs Carnell start to raise this issue was, "Well, it does not worry me very much whether I am called MLA or MLC; what the hell". If we want to call it a Legislative Assembly, that is fine; if we want to call it a legislative council, that is fine. That is the level that the Liberals are now coming back to; they want to talk about a council but really it is about changing names. The community feeling on this issue came out of funding. What many people who objected to self-government were frightened of - they knew because they were involved in the public service and were aware of how public services operate - was that when we got self-government it would be a method used to cut our funding. That was obvious. That is exactly why we got it. There is no doubt in most people's minds that the real objection to self-government was over that issue. That was the reason that originally I took up petitions to say that we ought to have a referendum first. It was part of doing that. That is something that Mr Stevenson never did, because he did not come to Canberra until just before the election.
Mr Stevenson: That is not true. Why don't you check your facts?
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stevenson: When did I come?
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