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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1181 ..

MS REILLY (4.46): We released this report two weeks ago. We set up this inquiry originally in response to Mr Hird's concerns about the use of skateboards in shopping centres. We thank him for giving us the opportunity to go out into the community and to inquire into what young people want in using public space and skateboards. I think that was one of the great things about this inquiry. The committee did take the opportunity to go out of this building and to go and talk to young people in places where they congregate. I think it was also an opportunity for the community to understand some of the work of committees and what we actually do in this building. It was also an opportunity for people to actually find this building in the first place. I think that the community at times is unaware of the role the Legislative Assembly plays in their lives, and committee hearings are one way in which they can discover more. I think the fact that we took this opportunity to go out and talk to people in the community was a very positive aspect of this inquiry, and it might be one that other committees take up as well.

The first of these hearings that we went to was at Tuggeranong College. The committee members who were there were very impressed with the very articulate group of young people who spoke to the committee about the use of skateboards. They also raised other issues that young people face, such as the lack of facilities to use their skateboards. They also spoke about other wheeled vehicles such as bicycles. It was good to see after we went out there the announcement of a long-planned skate park in Tuggeranong. They also raised the issue of public transport in getting around in the ACT; the issue of how hard it is to get connecting buses and how hard it is for some of them to use buses as well. They also spoke about the harassment they receive because of the way they look or the fact that they are carrying skateboards. That is also an interesting aspect and an interesting comment on the ACT community. They spoke of harassment not only by other members of the community but also by bus drivers who were not happy to have them on their buses, which I find amazing. Skateboards are actually quite small things to put on a bus.

The overriding impression, and what impressed me particularly, was the pride in which these young people spoke about their skill and expertise in skateboarding. They were very proud of the skills they had. This was a theme that came through in talking to other skateboarders in other places and also in-line skaters as well. We were not talking about any ordinary old thing; we were talking about the skills that came with using skateboards.

This pride was also exhibited by various in-line skaters who were, in the main, a slightly older group than the skateboarders. It seems there is a graduation from skateboards to in-line skates. I think it is important that we remember the pride that these people exhibited, because there is so often so much negative publicity about young people in our community. There is mistrust and antagonism shown to young people and I find this quite surprising, because they are important members of our community. We regularly hear the cliche that young people are our future, but we go an awful long way at times to suggest to young people that we do not care whether they have futures.

They have to face up to negative publicity in the media; they have to face up to complaints that they are unmotivated, lazy and so different from when we were younger. It is amazing how things change. They have to put up with grumpy old men complaining about what they do at various places. They have to put up with them - - -

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