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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (18 April) . . Page.. 1099 ..

MS HORODNY (3.34): Mr Speaker, Mr Humphries has jumped up in support of paintball in the ACT; but I do not think that he has done very much research on what is - - -

Mrs Carnell: You would not even have the briefing.

MS HORODNY: I have had a briefing on this issue.

Mr Humphries: Not from the person we offered.

MS HORODNY: I had a briefing on this issue from the paintballing people themselves last year.

Mr De Domenico: What about the criminologist?

MS HORODNY: You obviously have not talked to shires adjoining the ACT, as I have done. I have spoken to a councillor in Yarrowlumla Shire, where paintballing was banned three years ago because of concerns about what was going on with paintballing and the after-effects.

Mr Humphries: But you have talked to those who are opposed, not to those who are in favour. Talk to the criminologist.

MS HORODNY: Mr Humphries, the councillor from Yarrowlumla Shire had some very valid points to make about this issue. If you will just be quiet, I will explain to you what was talked about. One of the reasons why it was banned in that shire was that it certainly did enhance a culture of violence amongst the people who were playing paintballing. There were a number of incidents on almost every occasion after the game was played. There was no debriefing. There was no requirement for a trained person to be on site to do a debriefing session afterwards. There were incidents where people coming away from this game with their own weapons were potting the sheep and cattle and doing all sorts of outrageous things. I have heard this from the councillor in Yarrowlumla Shire. I understand that Gunning Shire also tried to ban it, but they did not have the numbers in the council. They did have the numbers in Yarrowlumla Shire, and they are very happy with the fact that they have banned it.

The other thing is that the Minister for Police is the first to jump up and talk about violence issues. He is always horrified when we talk about domestic violence, when we talk about child abuse, when we talk about all the other incidents of violence that occur in our society. Yet he cannot seem to make the connection between violence and those things that we do in our society which are supposed to be play. I want to make a statement about that, too, because there is a very clear difference between play and a game like paintballing, where the participants are wearing their camouflage gear and the game is very much based in present terms. I notice that Mr Moore said in the media that even our children can tell when it is real violence and when it is play.

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