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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 8 Hansard (29 October) . . Page.. 2490 ..

MR HIRD: Mr Hargreaves, I will come to some of your comments in a moment. I would like to say that, on the road to self-government back in 1977, when we had the first Legislative Assembly, the first piece of legislation moved by the advisory body that was ever accepted by the Federal Government was Mr Kaine's piece of legislation, which was a Bill for an ordinance for litter. It was the first time. It was a tremendous breakthrough - - -

Mr Kaine: I was in the forefront then, and now.

MR HIRD: I heard Mr Kaine. Earlier today, the Leader of the Opposition referred to you as Solomon, and we are wondering when you are going to attempt to walk across Lake Burley Griffin.

Mr Stanhope: Solomon did not do that.

MR HIRD: I know that Solomon did not walk across Lake Burley Griffin, or any lake, but I am saying that he may well try. The fact is that I personally support this piece of legislation. Now I will turn briefly to Mr Hargreaves' nonsense - I should say "to his remarks". He said something about people's rights. Let me tell you about people's rights. A person comes along and puts a piece of paper on the windscreen of a car. Then the driver comes along, takes the piece of paper and throws it on the ground, which I have seen, and so have you, many times. They have breached the Litter Act. In what he is saying, Mr Hargreaves is aiding and abetting a breach of legislation, but he has sworn in this place to uphold the legislation.

Mr Hargreaves: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Mr Hird has just accused me of actually being complicit in breaking the law in the ACT, and I ask him to withdraw it.

MR HIRD: I withdraw. But he has to realise that, by putting pieces of paper, notices or whatever, on a motor car, people not only are breaching the Litter Act but also could be seen to be doing damage to a motor vehicle, which has occurred on a number of occasions. If Mr Hargreaves goes around putting pieces of paper on windscreens to tell people to vote for John Hargreaves and if he damages one of the windscreens, he might lose a vote, and I would not like to see Mr Hargreaves lose a vote on that count.

What I am saying is that it is very important to consider the rights of people, but what about the rights of the drivers and what about their inconvenience? I invite Mrs Tucker to stand up, as I know that she is very concerned about this area - - -

Mr Stanhope: Ms Tucker.

MR HIRD: Ms Tucker - I thank the Leader of the Opposition. It was a slip of the tongue. I invite Ms Tucker to involve herself in this and join me and my colleagues, and Mr Moore, in supporting this Bill. I say this because I know that she is concerned about paper and chopping down trees, as she has said many times. You know that all the trees are put on windscreens. I know that you will be supporting this Bill.

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