Page 1903 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
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official government level but at the discussion level within the administration at this stage, to identify other areas in the city that may be expanded into a further area of pedestrian mall. What impact will that have on bicycle access and, again, can that be used as a justification for the result you are trying to achieve, Mr Humphries?
I say, in conclusion, that we need to address the cause of the problem. I believe that the cause of the problem is far more significant than saying, "Kids will ride skateboards in the city because they want to annoy the shopowners". That is not the reason why they are there at all; there are other reasons. We need to give some cognisance to that fact and identify those issues and suggest some remedies as part of dealing with this Bill.
MR HUMPHRIES (12.08): Madam Speaker, as the proposer of the Bill and as the chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, I am prepared to accept the motion put forward by Ms Szuty to refer the Bill to that committee. I think the committee is well equipped to consider the issues that have been raised. Mr Lamont suggests that there are broader issues than just kids on skateboards, and he may well be right. I hope that the reference to this committee represents a desire to see some way in which the very real interests of pedestrians and shoppers, particularly elderly ones, in our shopping centres can be reconciled with the interests of young people in exercising what is acknowledged to be an important release of their energies and their talents in skateboarding and rollerblading.
I want to make it very clear in the course of this debate that I have no objection to people rollerblading or skateboarding or bicycling. They are activities which, particularly in the case of skateboarding and rollerblading, exhibit great skill, and I admire them for their capacity to do what they do on those items of equipment. But the essential point being made by this Bill, now as before, is that there are times and places for these activities. We as a community need to decide whether these activities ought to be encouraged and tolerated in particular places.
I also hope that the committee, when it considers this Bill, can examine the question of enforcement raised by Mr Connolly. The issue we are facing here is not: How do we deal with young people who transgress the law? Do we throw them into paddy-wagons and take them down to the station to be processed, or do we employ other better methods of enforcing this law? The problem has been not that the police have been itching to get out their on-the-spot-fine notepads or their handcuffs to deal with these sorts of people, but rather that they have not had the capacity to go to these people and say, "You are causing a nuisance in what you are doing here. Your presence here on a busy Saturday morning is not appropriate; it is not desirable. Would you please go somewhere else to do this?".
That is the essential point I am making with this Bill. It is to reconcile the legitimate interests of shoppers and pedestrians in using those places with the very real and legitimate interest of skateboarders and rollerbladers in practising their skill in some appropriate place. I hope that this motion will achieve that, and I look forward to the inquiry we will now embark upon.
MS SZUTY (12.11), in reply: I would like to thank members for their contributions to this debate and to urge them to support the motion that is before the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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