Page 974 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 19 April 1994
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MR STEVENSON: Mr Berry again raises the point. That is why I stand to talk about this, and I will take on Mr Berry's comment and that of the Chief Minister, who suggests that the Abolish Self Government Coalition name is something or other. I am not quite sure what they suggest. It is worth while looking at why it exists. Perhaps it has something to do with contempt of the Constitution and the fact that this nonsense should not be allowed under our Constitution. I well remember that on 4 July 1989 I moved an amendment relating to the committee to be formed to look at various aspects of the election.
Mr Berry: Did you actually turn up to a committee? Were you on a committee once?
MR STEVENSON: This was around the time when you would not allow me to sit on three committees, you might remember, Mr Berry. I remember that I moved an amendment to look at the constitutional points with regard to self-government. If we were going to look at various other matters of self-government, I said, let us look at the constitutional points, and I named a number of them, not all. I remember that the vote in this Assembly was 16 : 1. It is unfortunate that we did not spend the time to do that.
It could be something to do with contempt for and violation of democracy when the people, as you well know, voted against having this type of State-like government. I find it difficult to call it self-government because the people do not have much say - evidence the Royal Canberra Hospital, the schools, and the myriad of things that have been closed and the taxes that have been increased. It has something to do with a violation. How many people stood? Did the Labor Party stand for the Constitution? Did the Labor Party stand for the will of the people? Did the Labor Party stand for the fact that this should be a council and not a State-like parliament, with all your glorious trappings and all the other nonsense that this contains?
As we are looking at names and what the name of a particular party means, let us look at the name of the Labor Party. It is interesting to look at the Labor Party, the once great Labor Party. I had a comment about what it is now compared with what it was then. I am sure that they stood for the worker in Australia. They stood for employment and they stood for people giving a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. As for the current situation in Canberra and in Australia with record unemployment, what has Labor to do with that? There are record taxes on the worker. They are not record taxes on some people's mates, I will tell you; they are on the worker. What has Labor to do with that? One could well suggest that the principle of the Labor Party is long dead and buried. It is now so frivolous and so vexatious against the people of Australia and Canberra that it should be knocked out as well.
Mr De Domenico: Did you say "dead and buried"?
MR STEVENSON: I mentioned something a little bit stronger once in this Assembly. I felt that it was the right thing to say. But we must have a situation where people have the right to stand up and speak out.
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