Page 107 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2006
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I commend my motion to the house. I am very disappointed that the government will be opposing it. I believe that the government must have missed out on the spirit of that motion to be opposing it, because I believe that my motion encapsulates everything that the government intends to achieve with its new multicultural strategy.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (11.33): The government will be supporting most of Dr Foskey’s motion today. We have concerns about some minor inaccuracies in the motion and will be proposing some amendments, which I have circulated. Mr Speaker, I seek leave to move these amendments together.
Leave granted.
MR HARGREAVES: I move:
(1) paragraph 2 (a), omit all words after “Canberra’s ethnic community groups;”;
(2) paragraph 2 (b), omit all words after “has been”, substitute “replaced by an ongoing series of Ministerial multicultural forums;”;
(3) insert new paragraphs 2 (c) and (d):
“(c) the Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre was opened on 8 December 2005; and
(d) the 2006 National Multicultural Festival has broken attendance and participation records;”;
(4) insert new paragraph 3 (c):
“(c) involving the community in the development of a new multicultural strategy to be handed down by mid-2006.”; and
(5) omit paragraph (4).
I will, for the sake of consistency, address both the substantive motion and my amendments. I am pleased to support those aspects of the motion that seek to highlight the value placed on human rights and cultural diversity in the ACT. I firmly believe that the citizens of Canberra enjoy the highest level of equality, diversity and inclusiveness this great nation of ours has to offer. I am very proud to be part of a government that had the foresight, commitment and compassion to be the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce a bill of rights. Each and every one of our citizens has their fundamental civil and political rights enshrined and protected under the Human Rights Act. While there is no national bill of rights in Australia, we, as a community in Canberra, enjoy similar kinds of rights as those in developed countries across the world experience, thanks to this brave and bold legislation.
As a result, all Canberrans have the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law; the right to life; the right not to be tortured or treated in a cruel, inhuman or
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