Page 3786 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2013
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Some of the other removals are very interesting as well. The original document stated that members will:
Treat all citizens of the Australian Capital Territory with courtesy, and respect the diversity of their backgrounds, experiences and views.
I am not entirely clear why, but I understand that members want to see that paragraph removed. I am unclear what the motivation for that is. I think that it is our job to treat all citizens of the territory with courtesy. That does not mean we have to agree with them, and obviously quite frequently we do not. At the end of the marriage equality debate on Tuesday morning, in the foyer I had a fellow come up to me and say that he thought what we had done was fundamentally wrong. This was in the middle of all of the celebrations in the foyer. To his absolute credit, he was very polite about it. We had an interesting conversation for a couple of minutes. At the end of it we agreed to disagree. That is obviously an issue that I feel strongly about; he did too. Yet we were able to have a courteous and essentially interesting conversation.
So I am surprised that members feel the need to remove that. It probably reflects the way some members conduct themselves in this chamber, because we certainly see a lack of courtesy in this place at times. The sort of belittling that goes on of some members at a very personal level on occasions probably reflects why members have discomfort with this sort of text. I think it is fair enough to come in here and be robust, but some of what is essentially teasing and belittling behaviour I have seen go on in this place is reminiscent of a schoolyard, and I think we should all reflect on ourselves at times.
I recall an incident earlier this year in which I stood up to speak at the wrong moment. It was late at night; we had been doing the budget debate and I was not concentrating well enough. I stood up and started some remarks on where I thought we were up to. It was a pretty silly thing to do and worth a laugh, but it was fascinating how long the tormenting went on in the chamber. People continued to laugh and harass me for several minutes at the end of that. I found that very interesting. It is the sort of behaviour you would see in a schoolyard.
There is the way that I have seen Dr Bourke treated in this place—the catcalling that has gone on at him across the chamber because of the way he speaks. It is instructive of the inner character of some people that they conduct themselves like that. Whether it is a parliamentary chamber or anywhere in public life—anywhere in life, for that matter—that sort of thing goes well beyond the robustness of parliament and it really speaks to the inner character of people. That is something that we might all reflect on, because none of us are perfect. Life is a process of constant improvement, but some of that conduct, I suspect, goes to why members feel uncomfortable with inserting text that says:
Treat all citizens of the … Territory with courtesy, and respect the diversity of their backgrounds, experiences and views.
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