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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 (Hansard) 16 May) . . Page.. 1336 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

a collection of antique surgical equipment or something else there is a connection; or, to illustrate the logic better, if there is Coca-Cola in those people's homes. There is not a causal finding in what Ms Horodny is saying. We need to be much more careful in how we deal with our logic in trying to illustrate the point.

That having been said, Mr Speaker, I conclude by saying that I understand the arguments that have been put by Ms Follett and people supporting her motion; but at this stage, although I recognise the logic of them, I believe that it is a case of where we draw the line.

MS TUCKER (11.13): I would like to address a few points that Mr Moore raised. He quoted from a report on violence in Australia that I am very familiar with. We in the Social Policy Committee have been looking at the issue of violence for a year and, indeed, it is a complex issue; but to try to argue that because it is a complex issue simplistic solutions are not appropriate is a logic that I cannot follow. A combination of solutions will address the issue of violence in our culture.

Paintball, for me, and for many people in the community, is like saying, "It is good fun to play with guns. Boys like to play with guns. That is fine. We approve of that. You can go and play with guns out there". You can argue that this is not going to be particularly obvious to the whole community; that it is a question of choice. We have had a lot of discussion about gender and violence in the last months as well as the last year. When young boys see advertisements for this activity of paintball, what is the underlying message that you are giving to those boys? It is, "Yep, boys like to play with guns and it is fun. You can do it there if you have the money".

There is another very strong argument that comes out all the time when you look at violence in the society, Mr Moore. Indeed, early experiences are very important, but part of the solution is providing a role model. It comes up in schools. It comes up in our parenting. We are told that we need to look at more parent support services because a lot of violent children are the result of a violent home. In schools we say that we need to see role models provided by teachers and by the system that are non-violent role models. As leaders of a region, as politicians, what is the role model we are setting here? We are saying, "Let us introduce a game which, as Mr Berry said, is about simulated killing". It is about boys putting on military garb and running around with guns and pretending to kill each other. That is the example that we are setting as politicians here. That is the role model we are setting. I ask you to think very seriously about what the culture is in our society that allows that and accepts that.

I was at a dinner last night with a lot of people who have worked in various countries around the world. One of the people had been working in Africa for some time and we were talking about culture and violence. In the particular country that this person had been in it was very acceptable to kill people. We were shocked to hear that. What we are saying here is that it is not okay to kill people and we are going to regulate gun laws; but it is okay basically, still, that boys particularly, and men, want to play with guns.

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