Page 4665 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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Some people might think this is funny, but it is not funny in Switzerland because that is exactly what happens. They are not required to do so by law, but nearly all members of both - - -
Mr Berry: Why do you not move it, Dennis?
MR STEVENSON: Why do I not move? I love working here with you, Wayne. It is not a requirement that members of the two houses of the Federal Parliament work, but the vast majority of them do. They are real life people. They can talk about day-to-day business activities and what is currently happening in schools - not from the point of view of someone looking at the bureaucratic side of things, which also is important, but from the point of view of people with their feet on the ground, handling the problems that come up.
Let us look specifically at Mrs Carnell's role in this Assembly. Mr Berry may not know that Mrs Carnell often burns the midnight oil and is in here of a weekend. We are not talking about just people who have other jobs. Mrs Carnell puts in as much time as anybody in this Assembly. She spends a great deal of time here. I wonder sometimes why she does not do it at home, and then I think of the kids and all the things that happen. I think she probably does it so that she can get peace and quiet. That probably is sensible. Let us look specifically at the role that Mrs Carnell has in her outside job. It is that of a pharmacist. I cannot think of any other job that would be more worth while for someone who wants to get a real understanding about what ails society. After all, people come along about their headaches, their anxieties, and the depression caused by things that we do in this Assembly. What a wonderful way to find out what the problems are.
Mr Berry thought he had latched onto a really good point when he thought, "What I will do is get Mr Prowse. We will call him the Liberal Prowse. We will not mention Duby because everybody knows that Duby was the Labor Duby before he was the Liberal Duby. So, we will not mention that at all. We will hope that people forget". He mentioned Mr Prowse, who often pushed against fluoride in this Assembly. What a heinous thing to do! Imagine doing that! Fancy pushing against compulsory rat poison in the water supply! Heavens above; what reasonable representative would ever tell the people that putting a product that is called a rodenticide, insecticide, fungicide and bactericide in the water supplies would be a good idea to fight against? After all, politicians know what drugs the population should take - at least, so they think. Mr Prowse stood up for many things in this Assembly and it is no more unreasonable to suggest that he only thought about fluoride than it is to suggest that Mr Berry only thinks about unions and supporting them. That is not true. There are many things that Mr Berry brings up in this Assembly.
Mr Berry said that Mr Prowse had a second job selling water filters. That is not true. His partner had a job selling water filters. But why are we splitting hairs? What has whether someone is running a business or not to do with a good political debate? That is not the key point to the whole thing. The key point to the whole thing is that Mr Berry used this as the basis of his argument. He started with it. He had fervour in his eyes and he thought, "Boy, I have a good one here". I do not know whether anybody else has worked it out; but what happens when you take the fluoride out of the water, as Mr Prowse tried to do again and again? Many people would not buy a filter.
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