Page 1898 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR CORNWELL (11.46): I rise because I really could not allow Mr Moore's outrageous statements that we were somehow opposed to fun to go uncommented upon. Mr Moore, who is not here, unfortunately, talks about this side of the house being anti-fun. Mr Moore is one of the people who voted to ban circuses in this town. Where is he? This is the man who criticises us for opposing fun, yet Mr Moore helped ban circuses coming into the ACT. So much for Mr Moore's concern for the fun factor in the ACT.
Of course, he is always full of reformist zeal and he stands up and makes sanctimonious speeches about the dangers of young people suffering rejection if they are moved out of Garema Place when they wish to ride skateboards. He then goes on to talk about taking a positive approach to young people. I might suggest to Mr Moore that one of the positive approaches we could take to young people is to explain to them that they should not be riding skateboards in shopping centres. We are not seeking to ban skateboards. What we are saying is that they are unsatisfactory in certain areas, and unquestionably one of those areas is shopping centres.
Mr Lamont: Fuddy-duddies.
MR CORNWELL: Mr Lamont, let us see what happens if your grandma gets knocked over and her leg gets broken by somebody on a skateboard. What are you going to do, Mr Lamont?
Mr Kaine: Because it was such fun, he will laugh.
MR CORNWELL: Thank you, Mr Kaine, for the interjection. Mr Kaine suggests that, because it was so much fun, Mr Lamont would probably laugh. This is the problem. Mr Moore's idea of a positive approach to young people is simply to allow them to do whatever they like, wherever they like, whenever they like. Fortunately, most sensible, responsible people do not share that absurd view. The fact is that they do need to be taught that there are certain places where you cannot ride skateboards, just as there are certain other things that you have to do in life that require some sort of discipline, some sort of control.
This is not a question of ending up rejected. We know that there are numbers of people out there who do feel rejected, mainly because they very often do not want to obey any laws at all. I wonder what Mr Moore would do if the skateboard fraternity suddenly decided that the new and permanent Parliament House foyer was a good place for skateboards. Would Mr Moore be standing up in this place demanding that the Joint House Committee allow these people to express their skateboardness, or whatever phrase you may wish to use, in the new and permanent Parliament House? This is the sort of absurdity this man comes up with.
I wonder whether Mr Moore's attention to youth is because he supports euthanasia and does not really believe that there will be too many of the old ones left by the time he has finished with his inquiry. Maybe he is looking ahead for more votes. I can assure you that he will not have the support of the community for putting up such a ridiculous argument in favour of not moving these people on from Garema Place or any other shopping centre. The fact of the matter is that the shopping centres are for shopping; skateboarders should go somewhere else.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .