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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 (Hansard) 16 May) . . Page.. 1338 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

On the issue of control and, for that matter, the lack of it - in other words, the issue of encouraging freedom of individuals - I think that this Assembly has been second to none out of all the legislatures in Australia. We believe, right across this Assembly, or at least the majority of us do, that in our society adults have a right to live their lives the way they choose, as long as they do not force their standards on others, or as long as their actions do not impact upon others in an unfortunate way.

We have taken that view with regard to censorship. We have taken that view with regard to X-rated videos and laws with regard to homosexuality. Other houses of parliament simply have not taken that sort of approach. We have suggested, even if homosexuality might not be something that we personally feel very comfortable with at all, that consenting adults have every right to do what they may choose to do in their own homes, as long as it does not impact upon others. We have suggested that people over the age of 18 have a right to see X-rated videos in their own homes, as long as those X-rated videos are not available to children or are not pushed down the necks of people who do not want to see them.

Even when it comes to other activities, such as smoking, we believe strongly that people have a right to smoke - we have not banned smoking - but we have said that people do not have a right to smoke if it impacts upon other people. We have said that people under the age of 18 do not have a right to smoke. In other words, all the way through the approach that this Assembly has taken to the rights and the freedom of individuals, we have believed, or the majority of us have believed, strongly, that adults do have a right to determine what they may or may not do, inside the law, in their own leisure time, in their own homes, and what - let us be fair - they might perceive to be fun.

Paintball does not particularly appeal to me, but I think that the issue of violence is an interesting one. I think that including violence in the debate has been a bit of a furphy. Violence, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary - I think we would all agree with this - is unlawful exercise of physical force; it is intense; it is passionate; it is furious; it is impetuous.

MR SPEAKER: Order! It being 45 minutes after the commencement of Assembly business, the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 77.

Motion (by Mr Berry) agreed to:

That the time allotted to Assembly business be extended by 30 minutes.

MRS CARNELL: Violence is about an aim to cause harm, an aim to cause pain, an aim to degrade. It is about physical or psychological thoughts. It is not that violence equals guns or violence equals anything else particularly. There can be violence in football, there can be violence in sport, there can be violence in the home; but all of those forms of violence are related to an aim or an intent to hurt, to maim, or in some way to degrade. Violent films are about all of those sorts of things.

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