Page 3084 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 September 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Ms Szuty talked about how hard she has worked in reading debates. That is very good. I welcome the fact that Ms Szuty does a lot of homework and reads a lot of debates. I suggest that Mr Connolly and Ms Szuty talk to the people who work at the bus interchanges. Two weeks ago I went round members of the Transport Workers Union. I did the tour, and I thank Mr Connolly for allowing me to do it. People took me aside and said, "Please try to help us. We want the police move-on powers to be retained because we are concerned about our safety". My message to them, Mr Deputy Speaker, was to approach their trade union and get them to lobby this Government to make sure that their views are expressed through this Government. Mr Deputy Speaker, members of the trade union movement would have more influence on this Government than you or I or other members of this house would have.
Mr Connolly, Ms Szuty and others who are considering not supporting Mr Humphries's amendments should talk to the people who are being affected on a daily basis - the people who, as Mrs Carnell quite rightly said, are at the coalface. They should talk to the policemen and policewomen who are confronting the problem every day, the people who wait at bus interchanges and other places only to be abused by known gangs, some of whom have particular ethnic groups in them. If we deny these problems and stick our heads in the sand, we do not know what we are on about. The police and the community know that these problems are occurring all the time in the ACT.
It is all very well to stand up here and talk about Sir Robert Menzies and civil liberties. What about the potential victims of the crimes that may be committed if these move-on powers are not retained? What Mr Humphries is saying makes a lot of sense. The Liberal Party is very proud to support what Mr Humphries is saying. I urge the Independents and members opposite to listen to what their supporters in the community are saying to them. Do not bury your head in the sand; do not get carried away with this orgy of ideology about civil liberties and what have you. Listen to what the community is saying. I am sure that if you do sit down and think about it you will support Mr Humphries's amendments.
MR MOORE (11.27): Mr Deputy Speaker, the first time that I spoke on the move-on powers was on 24 August 1989, when I supported the introduction of the Bill. There is a quite interesting record in Hansard of Mr Humphries interjecting during my speech. I was about to support him, but he still interjected. I said:
Let me say that of course we are supporting the Bill and we are quite pleased to support it, but we do not need to go through those irrelevant areas.
Mr Humphries replied:
No, you are not. You are not pleased to support this Bill. Let us be honest.
I said:
I am quite pleased to support the Bill.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .