Page 3957 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
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MR BARR: From both sides, yes. I want freedom from religion in my life. I do not need other people to impose their views on my life, my relationships, my family and anything to do with how I conduct myself in the context of being a law-abiding citizen in this secular liberal democracy. I want freedom from religion. Others want freedom of religion, and I respect that too. I do not seek to impose my views on other people’s relationships, their families and how they live their lives. If our secular liberal democracy can respond to those issues in a positive way in the next few months, which I hope it will, then I think we will be a better city as a result.
This motion goes to highlight a number of very important programs that we are undertaking and we will continue to undertake as priorities for this government that I believe reflect the values of the majority of Canberrans. I acknowledge that not every Canberran supports every program that we will undertake in this area, but the nature of democracy is that we took to the election a platform of reforms and initiatives, and people voted.
All of the substantive issues that have been raised by Mr Parton in his amendment have been discussed in the context of, at times, not just one but sometimes more than one election campaign, have been the dominant issues in territory politics for most of the last decade and have been conclusively resolved at elections on a number of occasions. So we will continue to implement those policies, because they are core values for this government and core values for the parties that make up the majority of members in this Assembly.
We acknowledge that not everyone agrees, but the majority does, and we will continue to pursue those reforms. That is not to say that we do not appreciate that there are others who have a different view, but our view is not for changing on some issues that are fundamental. Equally, on the other side of the debate, there would be nothing that I could say or do or that any of my colleagues could say or do that would change fundamental beliefs held by others. But we have a democratic process to resolve that. We have this parliament as a representative democracy and a forum in which the debate will take place. On the issues raised by Mr Parton in the context of those policies, we have clear positions. We took those positions to the election. We were re-elected and we will continue to implement those policies.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (12.04): I would like to thank Ms Cheyne for bringing forward this motion today and thank others for their comments so far. It is quite true that Canberra is a very diverse, welcoming, vibrant and adaptable place. It is diverse and welcoming, and that is why many of us who may not have been born here have chosen to make it our home. In fact, the opposition benches are very reflective of the diversity in the Canberra community in terms of the number of women MLAs and men MLAs, the number of cultures represented, including some of those people who may have been born overseas—quite a number—and with views as diverse as the community that we represent. That is why I think it is a good opportunity to speak to this motion today, which is about diversity and inclusion.
The motion gives a bit of a nod to the sustainable development goals, specifically No 10, which is about reducing inequality, including that based on income as well as on age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
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