Page 285 - Week 01 - Thursday, 16 February 2012
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But let us go through this. First of all he slags them for being old. That is what Mr Hargreaves thinks. It is inappropriate to go to an old persons club. It is inappropriate to talk to old persons. There you go. Then he says there is just the two of them. Well, there are not two of them. If you bothered to do your job and attend community functions of this nature, you would know that, yes, the numbers ebb and flow, but the numbers have been good lately. Thirty or 40 people were there just last week. It is one of the better attended community councils that I go to.
“They claim a community connection.” Well, they do have a community connection. They represent the community. They come from that community. They come from your community, Mr Hargreaves. They have that connection. Then he slags them by saying, “This geriatric mob who sit in their place, the both of them.” Why do we have to use “geriatric”? Why do we attack older Canberrans in this way?
“It is nothing but a self-help group, Mr Speaker.” A self-help group? I would like Mr Hargreaves to point to where they got something for themselves out of this. There is an allegation there that they use it to somehow get some sort of advantage. I am not aware of any of them who get an advantage. The previous chair—and I know Mr Hargreaves knows this—used to get cranky and abusive phone calls and he used to get phone calls from people seeking help. They are not a self-help group. They serve their community and they serve them well.
“I wouldn’t feed them. I resigned from that mob. I will not go there because they are a self-interest group.” I have to say that, for a self-interest group, if you had listened to the debate last night, Mr Hargreaves, you would have heard the list of things they have raised in the community as concerns for their community on behalf of their community. It was a great night. People who could not come had sent in lists of things they thought were wrong with Tuggeranong and could be improved. It is not a self-interest group. It is not a self-help group. It is a group that has an honourable record and a decent record. If you go on their website you will see it is getting even more and more professional over time.
That is the nub of this motion, Mr Speaker. It is time this behaviour is brought to an end. It is time Mr Hargreaves is censured for his behaviour. He can explain for himself why he feels the need to behave in that way and what causes him to do that. But it is unacceptable for this place to accept that behaviour, particularly on this occasion.
As to Mr Val Jeffery, Val is big enough to stand up for himself, and I am sure that he will. But what we should not accept is the decline in standards in this place where we start talking about people coming out of water closets. I mean, really! There is a whole dictionary. If you want to abuse somebody, go and read a dictionary. It is kid’s stuff. It is infant’s stuff. It is toilet humour of the worst kind, and it should not be tolerated by this place.
This is an important test for the Chief Minister on the standard that she sets. It is an important test for the Labor Party. Mr Corbell spoke nicely about the Tuggeranong Community Council last night. Ms Burch did. But Ms Burch and Dr Bourke sat there
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