Page 214 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 23 February 1994
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Mr Wood: Did you point out that that is not always effective?
MR STEVENSON: Mr Wood asks whether I pointed out that that would not be very effective. The answer is no. When we survey we do not educate people. There were 37 per cent in favour of a ban on smoking in restaurants, and there were 14 per cent in favour of the restaurant owner determining whether or not smoking should be allowed and, if so, to what degree. I want to thank the people who helped in the survey over those three days and the many people who answered the survey questions. We actually do not ask those questions in person because people may be influenced by voice inflections or intimidated by a person standing in front of them looking at them.
Mr Lamont: You fronted me two years ago, and that did not worry you then.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Lamont said that I fronted him a couple of years ago, and I did not mind intimidating him then. I did that deliberately. With anybody else, I give them the form; but I saw Mr Lamont and I thought differently. If you phone somebody up, voice inflection can introduce a bias. If you ask somebody the questions, voice inflections, body language and all sorts of things can introduce a bias. We started off like that some years ago, but now we simply ask somebody whether they are from Canberra and make sure THAT they are 18 or over. We then give them a clipboard and a pen, and they can fill in their responses in their own time. They are not hassled by time.
Mr Humphries: Did they wear badges saying who they were?
MR STEVENSON: I always wear a badge. I think someone should always wear a smile when they go out surveying. We did not have any signs up, other than signs like "Have your say" or "Something can be done".
Mr Humphries: Not "Abolish Self Government Coalition"?
MR STEVENSON: No, we did not have that. We did at one time, but we cut that out. We do not do that any more. We select the people we survey. That is very important, because if you do not select them you often get an unconscious bias on the part of the person doing the survey. They tend to ask people like themselves or people who look like them. There is that tendency. I saw it many years ago when I was involved in the area. We basically grab anyone, and we go out of our way to get people that might be looked upon as minorities, et cetera.
Obviously, I will vote against the legislation. If legislation were introduced not to ban smoking in certain areas but to allow a choice within restaurants and so on, I would vote for it. I understand that, for small restaurants, cafes, coffee lounges, et cetera, it is far more difficult to cater for choice. That is something that would have to be looked at. On this matter, I ask members to vote for the people of Canberra - whose majority decision is not to ban smoking outright but to allow for smoking and non-smoking areas - and to vote against this banning Bill.
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