Page 589 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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That this Assembly:
(1) decries the attack on:
(a) members of the Tuggeranong Community Council by John Hargreaves, in the Legislative Assembly on 15 February 2012 …
I think we all agree with that. I do not see how people can disagree with that. I have not heard anyone say that he was right and I have not heard anyone say that they support him. Let us see if people actually believe what they say.
Part (1)(b) says:
(1) decries the attack on …
(b) older Canberrans by John Hargreaves, in the Legislative Assembly on 15 February 2012, by using “geriatric” as a slur …
Let us remember what he said, Madam Deputy Speaker. He said:
The shame of it all, however, Mr Speaker, is that he does go to that old persons club called the Tuggeranong Community Council; he sees both of the punters that go to that and then claims to have some sort of community connection with this geriatric mob who just sit in their place—both of them. It is just nothing but a self-help group, Mr Speaker. I would not feed them. I resigned from that lot. I will not go there, because they are a self-interest group and I would not touch them with a barge pole. I want the record to show that I would not touch that crowd with a barge pole, because they are nothing but the lackeys of Mr Smyth and his cronies and I do not want to know them.
He has resigned, and he has not been for years, so how would he know what the Tuggeranong Community Council are like these days? They have rewritten their constitution; they have a new president; there are a lot of active and interested people there; there are a number of subcommittees that do everything from planning to transport. They contribute to their community.
In terms of part (1)(b) of the motion, it is very important that we decry the attack on older Canberrans, using the word “geriatric” in the facetious, derogatory way that it was used. It is interesting that when you go to the dictionary and you look at the use of “geriatric” as an adjective, you see that it can relate to a medicine or it can be “facetious, derogatory, or offensive (of people or machines) old, obsolescent, worn-out, or useless”. If that is the view that the majority of members want to remain on the record as their view and the view of this place as to how we see the Tuggeranong Community Council and its volunteers, well, be that on your heads. But I will not have it on mine and the Liberal Party will not have it on theirs.
It is important that we foster communities in this place and that we foster people to feel that they should go to community councils and have their say. Otherwise, Chief Minister, pull their funding. We fund them. We fund all the community councils and it is a worthwhile objective to assist them in the way that they serve their community.
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