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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2575 ..


MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

As far as prohibited items are concerned and the dates that the declaration under clause 4 of the bill will cover, I am happy to table draft versions-I emphasise that they are draft versions-of both of those matters. The dates of the events, of course, are the dates of particular matches being held in Canberra. I table the following documents:

Olympic Events Security Act 2000, draft declarations pursuant to section 4-

Schedule A-Description of events.

Schedule B-Prohibited items.

I will read the items which are proposed to be declared prohibited items: glass items other than optical lenses; bottles, whether made of glass or otherwise, and cans; prohibited weapons and prohibited articles under the Prohibited Weapons Act 1996; knives including knives under the Crimes Act 1900; firearms under the Firearms Act 1996; flares, fireworks, explosives, smoke bombs, petrol and dangerous goods under the Dangerous Goods Act 1984; drugs of dependence and prohibited substances under the Drugs of Dependence Act 1989; liquor within the meaning of the Liquor Act 1975; poles other than poles less than 1.8 metres in length with flags attached; any political, religious or race-related materials; flags of non-participating countries; and balls, frisbees and similar projectiles.

I make one observation about the list of prohibited items. That list is the requirement-

Mr Berry: That rules out the Aboriginal flag, by the way.

MR HUMPHRIES: Let me tell you something, Mr Berry. If you listen for a moment and stop jabbering, you might hear something. If it does exclude the Aboriginal flag, it is the requirement of SOCOG, which is chaired by your Labor Party minister, Mr Michael Knight. SOCOG has insisted on those things being prohibited. I know that he is from the wrong faction to you, but the fact is-

Mr Hargreaves: You have ruled it out.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, we have not ruled it out. How many times do I have to say this before I turn blue? These are not our requirements. This is what SOCOG have said we must have prohibited in respect of events held in the ACT. That is the requirement of SOCOG. (Extension of time granted) I remind members that SOCOG is chaired by Mr Michael Knight, who is a minister in the Carr Labor government. If members are not happy with that list of prohibited items, I suggest that they take it up with Mr Michael Knight.

Mr Hargreaves: That is your job.

MR HUMPHRIES: I am happy with the list, to be perfectly frank. I am perfectly happy with the list and I am happy to work within the framework of a national sporting event, namely, the Olympic Games, and the requirements of the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

I think the legislation is sensible. I think that Mr Stanhope's proposed amendments are silly and I will come to speak about those when we reach the detail stage. I think that the government has behaved appropriately with respect to this legislation in negotiating and


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