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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 1734 ..

MR BERRY: Ms Carnell, this motion is about opposing the Bill as well. This is about ensuring that the Bill does not come forward. This is about asking Mr Osborne to withdraw the Bill. It is not about restricting Mr Osborne's right to debate the Bill as you have described it in your disingenuous press release today, among the many thousands of those that have been released to the community. This is not about prohibiting Mr Osborne's right to debate these issues in this place. This is about requesting Mr Osborne to recognise the community upset that his draconian Bill has caused. There is wide community upset about this issue. I trust that as a pro-choice person you will change your mind in the course of this debate, unless you have decided on political grounds to oppose the motion rather than adopt the moral grounds which you say you support. This motion is about reinforcing the community's view in this place. It is not - I will repeat this for your benefit, Ms Carnell - about stifling debate.

Ms Carnell: Excuse me; yes, it is.

MR BERRY: A week or so ago we saw a move by Mr Osborne, which you publicly supported, for an early debate on this Bill in the next day or so. We opposed that. That created a great deal of disquiet in the community. There was a massive meeting yesterday. The most often repeated request from that meeting was: "Withdraw the Bill". As somebody who bathed in the warm applause at that meeting I would have thought that you would have respected the views of the people who addressed that meeting and the cries from that demonstration. I would have thought that you would have respected their views. I would have thought that you would have supported this motion on those grounds - "Please withdraw this Bill". Mr Osborne has complete and utter freedom not to do so.

In relation to these sorts of requests and attempts by this Assembly, it is important to go back to some historical events and the behaviour of our Chief Minister on this issue. The Chief Minister in 1994 attempted to force a member to bring on a Bill against the member's will. That was me, I might add. She attempted to force a member to bring on a Bill so that it could be defeated. The Bill sought to have abortion decriminalised. This is the Chief Minister who yesterday said, "I am pro-choice". It was well known - - -

MR SPEAKER: Mr Berry, order! We are not discussing the Chief Minister in this debate. We are discussing Mr Osborne's motion.

MR BERRY: Indeed. I think it is important to reflect on some of the precedents that have been set in relation to these matters, Mr Speaker. The Chief Minister, knowing that the Bill to decriminalise abortion in the ACT would have been defeated had it been brought forward, supported a motion to force the member to bring it on against his wishes so that it could be defeated. This is the Chief Minister who said she is pro-choice. Now, let me go back to my position in relation to this motion. This is a request only. This Assembly is not forcing Mr Osborne to withdraw his Bill. This is the conveyance of a request from a 2,000 strong meeting representing disquiet in the community over the effects of this Bill.

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