Page 1900 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
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MS SZUTY: I am reporting on what you said, and I am reporting further that some members of the Planning Committee may not necessarily hold to that view. The view we have is that we very much do not like to see any particular target group or section of the population prevented from participating in the full life and activity of the community. On that basis, we had some reservations about the measures that were taken in Queensland.
Mr De Domenico: No, you had some reservations, not "we". You cannot on the one hand say one thing and on the other hand say the other.
MS SZUTY: I will say that I had some reservations, but I also note that other members of the Planning Committee had reservations as well. So I am using "we" in that context.
However, Mr Humphries said that he has had many representations to him on this issue, and I have, too, by a number of people who recognise that the issue is one of concern. I believe that the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs is well placed to consider the issue further and to come up with options and strategies which will effectively address the concerns expressed. We have a timeframe which allows us to report to the Assembly in December this year, and I believe that that is an appropriate timeframe and will give us enough time to consider the issue more fully. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
MR LAMONT (11.56): It is an appropriate resolution of the presentation of this legislation today that it be further reviewed, principally because the rationale for the introduction of this Bill is fundamentally flawed. The reality is that there is a perceived public safety problem with rollerbladers, skateboarders, cyclists and so forth - and not just in the city centre, I might add. That view has been expressed, I think, to all members of this Assembly. However, attempting to take the action that is proposed in this Bill to address the problem is putting the cart before the horse. Indeed, there should be - and I think Ms Szuty and I are at one on this - an investigation into the provision of suitable facilities for this type of activity to be undertaken in appropriate locations. That is one of the issues I would hope the Legal Affairs Committee, which Mr Humphries chairs at the moment, will investigate.
The investigation should not take long. I think the various sides, if you like to use that terminology, to this argument have both well documented and well argued their respective cases over the last few years. It should therefore be a fairly swift review by the Legal Affairs Committee of all of the issues associated with this question. I would hope that we are able to do it prior to Mr Humphries having his seven weeks' leave this year.
Mrs Carnell: You mean his honeymoon.
MR LAMONT: If that is how long it takes, his seven weeks' honeymoon then. I do not want to belabour the point - or even beliberal the point, Mrs Carnell, if you will pardon the pun. I think it is an appropriate way for us to handle the matter. I hope that we are able to have some of the issues addressed on the public record.
As I said in my introduction, I think they go further than just addressing the problems in the city centre. It is extremely difficult for us to isolate the city centre from through traffic, because of its design. It is designed as a fairly large meandering pedestrian mall - appropriately, in my view - but it does cover the
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