Page 328 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 1 March 1994
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MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, on that point of order: It was in fact the Minister himself - - -
Ms Follett: Yes; so?
MR DE DOMENICO: Just be quiet. I am speaking to the Speaker, not you. Madam Speaker, it was the Minister himself who mentioned Queanbeyan and the Blue Light disco. The Minister brought that up because he thought it was salient to the debate. I agree with him and I would like to continue along that course.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr De Domenico, your point is not entirely out of order, but I would suggest that you keep to the spirit of Mr Cornwell's ruling, which was that you stay as much as possible on the main topic under debate.
MR DE DOMENICO: I shall do that, Madam Speaker. It was Mr Connolly who mentioned all sorts of things about Blue Light discos. As far as I am concerned, Mr Connolly ought to put the well-being of young people on his agenda before the politics that he and others try to play in this place. Had Mr Connolly been putting the interests of young people first on his agenda, he would not have given a damn, to be very honest, where those young people were going. What is wrong with people in the Tuggeranong Valley or anywhere else who wish to go somewhere in order to keep off the street and have some wholesome entertainment going to Queanbeyan, Belconnen or anywhere else? Mr Connolly acknowledged that there were no Blue Light facilities in Belconnen, for example. Perhaps people from Belconnen might wish to go to Queanbeyan or Tuggeranong, or perhaps to Narrabundah.
Mr Connolly is saying that five police currently working with youth and two police in schools are the targets of cost cutting. What will happen very shortly is that all these young people will have nowhere to go. That shows Mr Connolly's concern about young people. Mr Connolly made some other interesting comments.
Mr Lamont: Who wrote this for you?
MR DE DOMENICO: No-one wrote anything for me, Mr Lamont. You are entitled to make your contribution later on, and we will see how intelligent you are. Mr Connolly said that kids were more likely to speak to police on pushbikes than to police in motor cars. I acknowledge that that is true, Mr Connolly, but let me tell you what else they are more likely to do. They are more likely, and might have more time, to speak to police who are gym instructors, to speak to the police who run the Blue Light discos, than to police on pushbikes. What Mr Connolly fails to tell the Assembly about is the extra work that is done at these police and citizens youth clubs.
Let us have a look at one example that is near and dear to my heart, the Tuggeranong PCYC at Erindale, and at the activities that are offered by these clubs. At Tuggeranong they offer aikido, basketball, boxing, callisthenics, gymnastics, karate, volleyball, and Blue Light discos, to mention a few. Activities offered by outside groups using the facility include dance and tap dancing. Periodical users include the Salvation Army, local school groups, aerobics, self-defence, and Sharing Places - a physically and mentally disabled group with carers. These sorts of facilities are being used for a wide range of situations.
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