Page 2431 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 1993
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MR MOORE (11.00): Madam Speaker, there has been some mirth in the background as this very serious debate continues. We have heard Mr Berry suggest "God" as one possible title and "the Don" as another. Madam Speaker, some of the other suggestions ought to appear as part of the record of this debate.
Mrs Grassby: What about "Pooh-Bah"?
MR MOORE: My own preference is simply "King". I think that that has a great deal of advantage, but I can see that some people may consider that that is perhaps taking it a little too far.
Mr Wood: You are no republican, are you?
MR MOORE: As Mr Wood points out, the republican debate going on at the moment may make that term a little unpopular. In that case we could have such a person addressed as "Your Highness"; but once again we have the same republican problem, so a new term - perhaps "Lofty" or "Your Loftiness" - would fulfil the purpose. Other suggestions that have been presented, for reasons that I do not know, are "My Lord" and "Your Grace", but I think that with their religious connotations they would have to be removed. Similarly, the term "Your Godliness" or something to that effect would be unacceptable.
I heard someone from across the chamber near the pillar suggest "Pooh-Bah", which is a possibility, but a much better suggestion is "Excellency". "Excellency" is a very hifalutin word, although in Canberra, with the international community here and that term being used for ambassadors, that might be considered a little inappropriate; but we will see when the committees return with their titles. "Duke" could perhaps be put in the same category as "King", "Your Highness", "Your Loftiness" and those sorts of terms, but it would also have an American connotation because of its special association with John Wayne.
Mr Lamont: What do you refer to yourself as as the chairperson of the death committee - "Your Deathliness"?
MR MOORE: Mr Lamont interjects about the term for the chair of the committee on euthanasia. I think the term that would be most appropriate is perhaps "Your Reverence", but I think that it does - - -
Mr Lamont: "Your Irreverence".
MR MOORE: I see that we have a debate on this coming up in the committee. Mr Lamont prefers "Your Irreverence". Perhaps that is much more appropriate. There are only a couple of other options left that we could consider. The judicial community may be very happy for us to share terms such as "Your Worship" and "Your Honour". I am sure they would be delighted for members of the Assembly to share with them such terms as would establish an appropriate attitude towards members of the committees. We all have some very hard decisions to make over this issue in our committees, Madam Speaker, but at least we have a series of reasonable choices and reasonable options to consider.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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