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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1016 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

It was also interesting, Mr Speaker, to read in this pamphlet some of the gun debate. It is of concern to me that, first of all, I was forced to read this. I am pleased that I was able to get it from a library, so that there was no contribution going back to the One Nation party or Pauline Hanson. In some ways, I think, "There is probably a very good reason why people do not want to continue the distribution of this text". I think anybody who actually takes time to read it carefully and think about it will very rapidly see through it and see through the shallowness of the arguments. We are in a bind, and the bind is: Do we give this woman even more coverage or do we give her less? I must say, Mr Speaker, there is also an element in this on which it is appropriate to point a finger at the Canberra press gallery. It is entirely appropriate for the press gallery to report the maiden speech of somebody like Pauline Hanson, particularly when she was putting different ideas to the public; I do not have a problem with that. But it was a feeding frenzy they went into after that. We have seen it on a number of issues, when members of the press gallery compete with each other on what they now consider the new interest; and they build somebody up.

Let me give you a previous example. The previous example was Bronwyn Bishop as a senator. Whenever Bronwyn Bishop said anything she had an extraordinary amount of coverage. In turn, she responded and fed it; until, of course, she went to the House of Representatives, when they dropped her like a hot potato. Was that the press gallery and their feeding frenzy in following one another, or was it a very sensible decision on the part of one media outlet or another? Exactly the same situation could be applied to somebody like Pauline Hanson. However, she is putting different ideas; she is putting them up for the public to consider. It is entirely appropriate, Mr Speaker, that she should be able to say what she thinks.

This brings me to a vote that I cast in this house on an anti-discrimination Bill. I supported the legislation against racial vilification. It seems to me, Mr Speaker, with the wisdom of hindsight, that it would be appropriate for us to bring that legislation back to the chamber in order to reconsider it. I think the best way of dealing with this sort of vilification is not by legislating against it but by subjecting it to the marketplace of ideas. I think that is the important point. We really have to get out to the dinner parties and say, "What is it about Pauline Hanson that is wrong? What is the fundamental premise that she is missing?". The fundamental premise is that we do not all start equal. If we all started equal, then what she is saying would make sense - it is as basic as that - and that is why it is that, in a marketplace of ideas, we have to step out there and continue the conversation as to what is wrong with what she is saying and why it is so divisive.

Mr Speaker, it was refreshing for me to have a go at an Independent today. Normally I have a go at Paul. Having a go at Pauline today has been quite refreshing. In this case, I think it is important for the alternative views to be put not just through the media but through ordinary conversations with people. Each one of us should take that with us and go out and try to explain what it is about this sort of reactionary process that needs to be dealt with. Indeed, it was when dealing with Dennis Stevenson that I began to look at these fundamental issues about missing premises, the way these arguments are created and the way they are put forward. If any member wishes to look at further issues raised by the Citizens Electoral Council, I have in my office a number of copies of their New Citizen which I keep to remind myself of how things can go off the rails.

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