Page 2288 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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I would like to comment on and give a plug to Michael Westerberg, a Canberra resident and fourth dan black belt in the Australian tae kwon do team. He recently competed at the New South Wales open tae kwon do championships held at Sydney’s Olympic Park. He was talented and committed enough to win five of the six events that he entered. Mr Westerberg’s performance makes him the most successful competitor at the tournament.
Mr Westerberg’s performance also guarantees that he will represent the ACT at the Australian championships to be held next month. I take this opportunity to congratulate him, to wish him well at those championships, and to acknowledge the significant commitment and discipline that goes into achieving that kind of success in tae kwon do.
Legislative Assembly—conduct of members
Mr Murray Bookchin
Environment—plastic bags
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (6.05): I was going to talk in the adjournment debate about filibustering after I realised the number of ways in which it can occur, including the filibustering tactics that were used today in the house. One thing about which we should all be really happy is that many filibustering tactics are not possible in this chamber because of our standing orders. In the United States Senate filibustering has been raised to a high art. I believe the longest filibuster went for about 24 hours.
Mr Seselja: He did not even go to the toilet in that time.
DR FOSKEY: That is right; it is obvious Mr Seselja has also done some research. He had to go to a steam house to ensure that he did not need to use the toilet. At the time he made his speech I believe someone was standing by in the lobby with a bucket. I do not think I could teach members anything about filibustering that they do not already know, as it is covered under our existing standing orders. Thank goodness for our standing orders. We could do with a few more cross-party agreements.
I take this opportunity to mention Murray Bookchin, an American man about whom no-one in this chamber has probably ever heard, but I believe he is worth remembering. He died recently at the age of 82. I am sure his name means more to the Greens than it does to anybody else because he was one of the early green thinkers. Most people have heard of Rachel Carson, who wrote Silent Spring. In 1952 Murray Bookchin wrote his first book entitled The Problem of Chemicals in Food, although I am not sure why he did not use his own name.
A decade later Murray Bookchin wrote a book entitled Our Synthetic Environment. His focus has always been on decentralised society and alternative energy. He also wrote prophetically about pesticides, cancer and obesity. He anticipated the greenhouse effect in a book that I know best, entitled The Ecology of Freedom. In a sense, Murray Bookchin was the founder of human ecology but that is best known as social ecology. He founded the first school of social ecology in Vermont, the Institute of Social Ecology, which had an international reputation for its courses in social theory, eco-philosophy and alternative technologies.
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