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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3409 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I do not want to take too much time on this matter, but I would draw members' attention to an article appearing in the current Bulletin magazine. It is a media report, so we take it at its face value; but towards the end it says, in part:

... the five senators from the NT and ACT met late last week to discuss their position.

That is their position on the Andrews Bill.

Mr Humphries: Did you say five?

MS FOLLETT: Five. It is the Bulletin. Mr Speaker, there is this quote here:

"If and when it -

that is Mr Andrews's Bill -

gets to the Senate, we will probably be a discrete caucus on issues that relate to an attack on territories' rights," says the NT's Grant Tambling. As well, Tambling has urged NT Chief Minister Shane Stone to formally present a rarely used "remonstrance" petition to the federal parliament for attempting to overturn Territory legislation.

Mr Speaker, to summarise, I believe that this issue does go well beyond political boundaries. It obviously has united senators and members of different political backgrounds, first of all, on the issue of the democratic rights of Territories, and, secondly, on the issue of discrimination against Territorians wherever they may live.

Finally, Mr Speaker, I would like to point out to members that the Alert Digest, which I have circulated to them, may not represent the final report of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills. This report, which I understand took an extremely long time for the Senate committee to reach agreement on, under their process will now be referred to the author of the Bill, Mr Andrews, for his comments, and on receipt of his comments it is possible that the final report of the committee may be different. I include that in the interest of ensuring that members have all of the information.

I would urge, Mr Speaker, now that this Assembly is no longer encumbered by the completely fraudulent Abolish Self Government Coalition, or the fraudulent No Self Government mob, that we accept, as an Assembly, the responsibility that has been laid upon us by the self-government Act, and that we accept that responsibility in full. I would urge that we indicate to the Commonwealth that we in no way accept that the Commonwealth has a right to overturn our legislation; that we in no way accept that this Assembly does somehow not represent the views of the people we are elected to represent and that we therefore need Commonwealth intervention. I would commend my motion to the Assembly, Mr Speaker, and, if such a motion is carried, I would also like to see that it is conveyed to all members of the Federal Parliament.

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