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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1849 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Moore said that it was appropriate that the first people to appear before the Bar of the Assembly should be the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to whom we referred in the motion on Tuesday. I think it is worth noting in passing that Mr Moore did say "the first people". I strongly believe that they should not be the last. I acknowledge that the people referred to in that motion - the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community of the ACT - and their representatives have a very powerful case to be able to have direct input to the legislative process of this community, but I see very strong reasons why that principle ought to apply to a large number of other people and organisations in this community. There are a lot of people with concerns whose point of view deserves to be heard in a direct fashion on the floor of this Assembly. Rather than make a political debate about something else which is on the notice paper, I just want to say in passing that I hope we will use the opportunity of this experience on 26 August to see how well we can apply the concept to other people in this community whose views the Assembly needs to hear in a direct and unadulterated fashion.

I hope that we will agree at the end of that experiment that we have all benefited from having some of the people whose lives are affected by the work we do here appear before the Bar of the Assembly and convey directly to us their views about what we are doing in this place. That can only be healthy and positive for democracy in the ACT, irrespective of what the people concerned happen to say in that process.

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (4.18): Mr Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Labor Opposition to signal our support for this motion. This proposal to allow representatives of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders from the Canberra community and surrounding region to address the Assembly in relation to Bringing them home matters, particularly the separation policies, and the apology motion which was debated in the Assembly earlier in the week, I believe, is an important one. I believe it is particularly important because it forms part of the process of reconciliation between Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders on the one hand and the community at large on the other.

Indigenous people have a special place in our community, and this should be regarded as a special occasion - a reflection of the unique relationship and the unique status that indigenous people have in our community and the unique circumstances that arise from the apology motion that was passed earlier in the week. Mr Speaker, I think it is appropriate that the Administration and Procedure Committee and you should have some involvement in finalising arrangements for this. I hope that that can be done in a consultative way.

If I have one concern about Mr Osborne's motion, it is that the timing of this event will be in the middle of the morning on a working day. Perhaps it would have been better for an event of this significance to take place at a time when people who have to work could more easily attend and either participate in or witness the event. An evening sitting might have provided a special opportunity for maximising the capacity of members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Canberra to be a part of this event. That is my main concern.

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