Page 3516 - Week 09 - Thursday, 23 August 2018
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Secondly, I always thought that the Canberra Liberals believed in freedom of speech. Indeed, I checked out the “our beliefs” page when I made my adjournment speech. I note that the “our beliefs” page has been updated. That was fascinating for me to discover today. But, contrary to the great Menzies tradition, the Canberra Liberal Party have now swapped out their previous beliefs. They have now chucked in the great Menzies’ tradition. Fantastic; good on you! No 13 is great: “human freedom and freedom of speech.” So why block? Why block? If you—
Mr Wall: You have freedom to say what you want. It doesn’t mean we have to listen.
MS CHEYNE: You are listening right now, Mr Wall. I think that says a lot. Secondly—
Opposition members interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Members! I think we should let Ms Cheyne finish.
MS CHEYNE: I also note that in her defence Miss C Burch said that she decided to block me from making further comments on her Facebook page because she did not think it was becoming for members to get into arguments over politics on social media. Then she said:
While Ms Cheyne’s comments may have also been factually accurate—
That is a great admission—
they do not contradict my post. After multiple comments were made—
As I said, two; some people are scared of two comments—
I took this to be “trolling” behaviour and made the decision to block her from my page. I do not believe that my desire to avoid a public argument—
A politician avoiding a public argument; can you believe it, Madam Assistant Speaker?—
with another Member via social media is in any way relevant to my honesty or integrity.”
Mr Coe: Point of order, Madam Assistant Speaker.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Point of order, Mr Coe.
Mr Coe: I ask you to reflect on whether this speech is bringing the Assembly into disrepute. Is this really what the Assembly is here for, to talk about this?
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Mr Coe. Ms Cheyne.
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