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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 1 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 31 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

the environment and accountability, ideas and ideals that I intend to bring to this house of parliament.

It seems that, because I am a younger person and a woman, people are always interested in hearing about what brought me to politics-the juxtaposition of "young", "woman" and "politics" often throws and confuses people.

I for one do not think it at all strange to have opinions, ideas and political notions at any age, but perhaps that is because I am privileged to be outspoken and to work with a whole range of outspoken people. And I do say "privileged", because we can easily become complacent about our freedoms. It is humbling to think that for every protest that I have attended and for every vote that I have cast, I have done these things without threat to my life, unlike so many around the world today.

It would be remiss of us on this day, three months after those tragic events of 11 September 2001, if we did not reflect on the impact that one event can have. Senator Stott Despoja, in her first speech, mentioned the tragedy that happened at Port Arthur. She said then:

In this new world, we now have a new challenge.

In what are troubled times, there has been a lot of discussion about who or what are our enemies. I strongly believe that our enemies are racism, bigotry, sexism, ignorance and lack of compassion. Our weapons for battle should be education, empowerment, access and advocacy. We must cherish, respect and nurture our freedoms and continually recognise them, so that we may never lose them.

Since October, my life has changed drastically: I now have to think every day about how I will look and what I will say when the television cameras are in front of my face, and I have also discovered again just how wide and varied the ACT community is. In particular, I am continually impressed by the number of people out there working as volunteers, with little consideration or recognition. They are such an important part of this community that we would be unable to function if they stopped.

However, many things in my life have stayed the same: my commitment to feminism and to the rights of young people, and my impatience with injustice. I do believe in a woman's right to choose. I also believe that drug use is a health issue and not a criminal one.

I find it quite amazing that some of the debates still facing this Assembly are around at all, and I know that I will be dismayed by some of the debates that we will have. The year is 2001, we are standing in a democratically elected parliament representing members of a notionally free society, and yet we still treat women seeking a medical procedure like criminals. We also marginalise people in our community with addictions because we refuse to understand or accept them.

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