Page 1893 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
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Then there is the issue of community property and the property of the shopping centre, of the retailers and service providers in shopping centres. If Mr Berry and Mr Connolly, who is not here, would bother to walk around Garema Place, or any shopping centre in Canberra, and ask the retailers whether they have ever had a front window broken or any of their stock or possessions damaged by people zooming past on rollerblades or skateboards, they will all tell you that they have or that somebody next door has. Just go down to Garema Place and ask how many shopfront windows have been broken or other property damaged. It is up to any normal government to do something about that, but this Government does not seem to believe that the rights of those people are in any way important.
The Liberal Party believes very strongly in individual freedoms and individual rights. We believe that everybody has rights. We believe that skateboarders and rollerbladers have every right to engage in their sport, to have some fun; but not at the expense of others, not at the expense of the individual freedoms and rights of other people in our community. That is exactly what we are seeing at the moment. We are seeing a situation where one group, and a fairly small group, are able - - -
Mr Berry: What rhetoric! That is hollow rhetoric.
MRS CARNELL: Mr Berry is obviously into facts today. He certainly was not last night, when we were debating the TAB Bill. I suppose things can change overnight.
I fully agree with Mr Connolly that this piece of legislation would be very hard to enforce, as is the current bicycle legislation. What it does, though, is give shopowners and the police some capacity to encourage these young people to leave the area. At the moment, they are acutely aware that there is no legislation to stop them riding in areas where people are supposed to be walking. It would of great benefit to be able to say, "Please move; it is against the law". That might seem really silly to people opposite; but, quite honestly, out there in the real world where people are trying to buy their groceries, where they are trying to get on with life, to be able to go shopping and not be intimidated by people on rollerblades or skateboards would be a great step in the right direction.
MR MOORE (11.31): I think it is important to warn people about the slippery slope on this issue. What we have is a situation that is akin to the domino theory in terms of communism. You will remember the domino theory about the communists that was around during the Vietnam war. It is the same slippery slope argument that I have heard people present at a - - -
Mr Kaine: Reds under every bed.
MR MOORE: I hear the interjection about reds under every bed. These are the sorts of problems that this may lead to. The real agenda here is to eliminate fun. What we have is a situation where people on skateboards and roller-skates have fun. A short time ago Mr Humphries was talking only about skateboards; now he is talking about skateboards and rollerblades. The question is: What next? The answer to the question is obvious: Anything that is going to provide fun.
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