Page 88 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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I was CEO of Volunteering ACT at the time, and early on Sunday the 19th I was involved in responding to many hundreds of people who were contacting my office, Canberra Connect, the radio stations and emergency services to offer themselves as spontaneous volunteers. A week later Volunteering ACT was able to arrange a clean-up in the Belconnen area utilising many of these volunteers. Mr Stefaniak and Mr Pratt and his son were among the many volunteers who assisted on the day. The volunteers worked tirelessly all weekend, clearing gutters and backyards for the elderly, people with disabilities and those who for whatever reason were not able to do this for themselves.
I am well aware that loss and trauma, which may have been directly or indirectly experienced by people in 2003, can elicit a grief response that finds its expression through anger and blame. This is a natural response. There is no one road to recovery. All of us deal with loss and trauma in our own way. However, no matter what our grief or our loss, taking revenge, I suggest, will not ultimately bring a sense of resolution or a sense of healing. Some would suggest that, in itself, this feeling of revenge actually eats away at the person, causing further hurt. This is why I am particularly sad today.
Mr Stefaniak could have acted like a statesman and realised that, whilst it would score cheap political advantage to go down this path of no confidence in the Chief Minister, it would have been more circumspect and less destructive to wait for the government’s response to the coroner’s recommendations, which indeed the government has now released. If Mr Stefaniak had behaved like a statesman and waited for the government’s response, he and his colleagues would have avoided the harm that this motion potentially will cause to all those who were involved in or affected by the firestorm. Instead, Mr Stefaniak could not help himself.
As I have said, many speakers before me have outlined the numerous reasons why this motion is a nonsense. I do not think I have to say much more. Unlike those opposite, I am not one to stand here and take up air space unnecessarily. However, I would invite one last reflection. How will history recall the efforts and achievements of these two men—Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister, visionary, social reformer, pioneer of so much that is so good, a man who puts the interests of Canberra’s people now and into the future at the top of every list; and Bill Stefaniak, erstwhile Leader of the Opposition, who scavenges around in the dirt, looking for something to throw at his opponent, rather like you do, I suppose, if you are not playing the game quite cleanly.
History’s pages will tell it how it is and will record the proud achievements of the Stanhope Labor government under Mr Stanhope’s fine leadership, which shows real vision and does not preoccupy itself with endless, petty political point scoring, as demonstrated by those opposite today.
Instead of moving a motion of no confidence today, Mr Stefaniak could have chosen to wait, as I said, until he had read the government’s response to the coroner’s report. Then he might well have come into this place and moved a motion of confidence in the Chief Minister. There is a thought! But I know who should be hanging his head in shame today: Mr Stefaniak, along with his colleagues. Shame, Mr Stefaniak, shame!
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