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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2585 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

him at all in relation to the SOCOG provisions. Talk about demeaning the role of the police and undermining police officers and the police service!

As the debate develops, we understand more and more of what is being proposed here. I suppose it is of some interest to us to learn that a unilateral decision or declaration has been made that every single person who enters Bruce Stadium will be searched; that their bags will be searched. That is what we now understand. It is not even a random search. The proposal is that everybody will be searched; that the bags of every single person who enters will be searched. This puts a different complexion on the debate, I guess. The government is now suggesting to us that they propose to search the bag or bags of every single person who enters Bruce Stadium.

I do not think the government has been all that up front about that. The government does not say in this legislation that every person that wishes to attend Olympic football at Bruce Stadium will be subjected to a search of their bags or of their property.

Mr Moore: May be subjected.

Mr Humphries: No. It is most likely everyone will be searched.

MR STANHOPE: The Attorney's proposal is that they will all be searched. There is no randomness about it. It is a total search that is being suggested here. The government is saying, "We cannot accept a reasonable proposal in relation to a reasonable belief, because we do not need a reasonable belief. We are searching everybody."

The debate we are having is about whether or not that is appropriate and about who makes that judgment. Or is that what we are doing? Is this parliament about to make a judgment that we should assume that everybody who goes to Bruce Stadium is potentially carrying one of the prohibited items? As the Attorney has said, it is a very wide list. It includes glass items, other than optical lenses; bottles, whether made of glass or otherwise, and cans; and political, religious or race-related materials. I presume that does not include crucifixes. I am not quite sure what that goes to.

What is religious material? I wonder whether it goes to a copy of the Lord's Prayer that one might carry around in one's wallet, a crucifix or rosary beads? It is a pity that we did not have made available to us this list of prohibited items. It goes to baby bottles. Anybody taking a baby that is on the bottle is going to be in strife. You cannot take a bottle, whether glass, plastic or otherwise. I presume nobody who is feeding a baby-

Ms Tucker: Only breastfeeding mothers.

MR STANHOPE: Only breastfeeding mothers may go.

Ms Tucker: It is a campaign for breastfeeding.

MR STANHOPE: Yes, it is a campaign for breastfeeding. I am not quite sure whether or not the list bears close scrutiny.

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