Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Thursday, 1 April 2004) . . Page.. 1513 ..

MR SPEAKER: Please proceed.

MR HARGREAVES: I find Mrs Burke’s remarks not only wrong but offensive. What I actually said at that gathering was that I have played cricket when blind, not drunk. I did not use the word “drunk”. I also explained in the course of that speech that I referred to comments made to me by a gentleman from the Royal Blind Society which were to the effect that the society encourages people to say things like, “I will see you later.”

He also recounted to me, prior to my remarks, the interesting story of a gentleman who was in a wheelchair speaking to a gentleman who was visually impaired. The gentleman who was in the wheelchair said that he often goes legless but he is never blind. The fellow who was visually impaired said—

Mrs Dunne: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

MR HARGREAVES: This is a personal explanation, Mrs Dunne.

Mrs Dunne: It sounds as though you are being a raconteur. I cannot tell which are the personal bits.

MR HARGREAVES: Get used to it.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Come to the personal explanation.

MR HARGREAVES: You are bobbing up and down.

Mrs Dunne: Which are the personal bits, those about you as opposed to somebody in a wheelchair?

MR HARGREAVES: The gentleman who was visually impaired said exactly the opposite and there was raucous laughter all around. The whole aim of the exercise, as I explained to my cricket association, was to emphasise the normalisation of people with disabilities, something which—in contrast to that crowd over there—I have been encouraging for years.

Opposition members interjecting—

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, I explained the situation. Mrs Burke has accused me of saying I was drunk. She should withdraw it.

Mrs Burke: I did not say that.

MR HARGREAVES: You are wrong. You are not only wrong, you are regularly wrong and you are professionally wrong.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .