Page 38 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 25 February 2014
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There is no apology, no mention of that from those opposite. They just tried to disguise this, as Mr Rattenbury did, as some debate about art and about free speech. Let me be very clear, Madam Speaker: this is not about art. This is not about freedom of speech and it is not about Jorian Gardner. This is about decisions that have been made by this minister that have led, as I just quoted, to insult caused to our multicultural community. It is about due process, it is about use of funds and ultimately it is about judgement. It is about the judgement that has been lacking from this minister repeatedly and the consequential effect that that has caused on so many in our community.
Today we have members from CIT that have come to listen to this debate, people who have been bullied at times and who have not been listened to, who have not been heard, who have been ignored by this government. I commend Mr Doszpot for his tireless efforts in giving many of these people, many of the 42 who were bullied, a voice, because they have not been listened to by this government. It is like the many people in Care and Protection, the insult caused to our multicultural community, the situation in Disability—as outlined in the letter that was read out by Mr Wall—the women that came into this place and signed the petition for the Women’s Information and Referral Centre that Mrs Jones was advocating for and the people at the Tuggeranong Arts Association who have been treated so poorly by this government.
These are the people that we represent. When Ms Gallagher and Mr Barr dismiss this as just simply opposition for opposition’s sake or a waste of time, these are the people that they then dismiss. We will not allow these people to be dismissed. We will continue to fight for them.
Madam Speaker, we did not move to have this debate lightly. There is much that needs to be done in this place in terms of legislation. There is much to be done in terms of action for our community, and we will engage in all those debates. We will respond to this government and we will engage as we do cooperatively on many, many issues. But there is a line. There is a threshold. There is a threshold of competency. There is a threshold of decency. When that is crossed, this government needs to respond because ultimately it is the members of our community that have been let down. If the government will not respond, if the Chief Minister will not act when action is required, we will. We will continue to pursue this minister and we will continue to pursue this government for any action that they have taken that lets down our community.
As Jon Stanhope said in 2001, and I will finish with this, that is the role of oppositions. It is a role that is particularly necessary as governments become lazy, arrogant, aloof and accident-prone.
Question put:
That the motion be agreed to.
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