Page 4742 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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Before elections are held, most issues are not particularly valid; there are many meaty issues that never get a guernsey in an election. If they were able to be put on a referendum question, they would get fair coverage beforehand. What a benefit that would be. That is not a disadvantage.
The report refers in paragraph 5.2 to "thereby denying ordinary citizens for whom the legislation is intended". Ordinary citizens! It is for the entire community - some ordinary, some extraordinary, some politicians, some unionists, some small business people, et cetera. It is for everybody. Under the heading "Scope", the report says:
Opponents of CIR argue that particular laws and policies can only be made by governments and should not be subjected to the direct approval of people who have a vested interest ...
Once again, the biased electorate; they should not have a vote because they are biased and a bit silly as well, I suppose. It continues:
or are not qualified to make decisions which are complex and potentially divisive (for example, abortion, euthanasia, immigration, foreign policy).
It goes on:
There is fear among CIR opponents that knee-jerk reactions ... may lead to draconian laws ...
What absolute drivel! It is just an attack on the commonsense of the people of Canberra, and an unreasonable attack, too. In paragraph 5.7 of the committee report, it says:
The time allowed for the collection of signatures ... is another issue which produces a range of arguments.
You can have a range of arguments about anything. The point is that most people agree on somewhere between six and 18 months; it is not too hard to work out. It looks like every little thing has been dragged up to suggest that there are problems. It then says:
Verifying signatures is central to the CIR process.
It goes on to suggest that there might be difficulty in this area. Verifying signatures is kindergarten stuff; that can be done easily. When talking about preferential voting, the report says:
But how legislation or proposals can be framed to reflect these options ... is not clear ...
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