Crispin Hull

The ACT Supreme Court has ruled that the word “”pornographer” is too imprecise to found a defamation action.

The Master, Alan Hogan, was ruling on a case over a Letter to the Editor of The Canberra Times brought by Robert Swan, who described himself in the statement of claim as parliamentary lobbyist and media consultant and an editorial and creative consultant on Ecstasy: The Australian Journal of Erotic Arts.

Mr Swan has represented the X-rated video industry against attempts to impose a special tax on it or to make it illegal.
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This is not the Bruce Shepherd of the 30-second TV grab _ the aggressive conservative getting stuck into Labor’s plans to “”nationalise medicine”.

This is a more reflective mellow man. Dr Shepherd stands down as president of the Australian Medical Association on Sunday (May 30).

What would he do if he were Minister for Health tomorrow?

You’d expect him to say “”tear down Medicare”, but no.
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The proposed boundaries marginally favour the Liberal Party and damage Independent Dennis Stevenson.

The Liberals benefit because a Labor-voting chunk of Woden has been dragged into Brindabella (Tuggeranong) which is already saturated with Labor voters, leaving an more pro-Liberal chunk in the seven-member central electorate to ensure the Liberals get a third seat there, which they would otherwise might be struggling to get.

Stevenson looses because his prime areas last election were the Oaks Estate and Tuggeranong. The Oaks Estate gave him nearly 25 per cent last election. Under the new boundaries Oaks Estate is in the central electorate. So Stevenson will have to get a quota in Tuggeranong without it. He is probably doomed anyway, because he needs a quota of 16.6 per cent. Last election he got 7 per cent overall and up to 11 per cent in some Brindabella (Tuggeranong) booths. Even with a generous spill of preferences for the fifth seat in Brindabella it will be a hard task, and harder without the Oaks Estate.
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Mr Moore said that an Auditor-General’s report last year had referred to the work practices in the Department of Urban Services, ACTION and ACT Electricity and Water but they had still not been dealt with, though ACTEW had dealt with its meal-allowance overpayments.

The head of the department, John Turner, said the matter was being addressed, but it could not be dealt with overnight.

Mr Moore said he had questioned officials at a Public Accounts hearing last week but had not been given satisfactory answers.
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The Federal Minister for Health, Graham Richardson, promised last night to use a cooperative approach to rid Australia of the curse of public hospital queues.

He called on the states and the medical profession to put time-wasting bickering aside to do this.

The question of hospital queues had been exaggerated but there were horror stories that were true.

“I intend to find out,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if there is one person in a queue, we have a responsibility to do something about it.”
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The theory is that by taking the minimalist approach you can keep almost exactly the same form of government we have now. You just cross out “”Governor-General” and insert “”President” and delete all reference to the British Crown.

Under this theory you create a ceremonial President with few if any powers. The reality is different; the president would get potentially very large powers _ those of the present Governor-General and more.

A literal reading of our Constitution shows that the Governor-General has huge powers: the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers (including the Prime Minister), the power to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections, the power to appoint a great raft of executive positions.
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The Republic Advisory Committee said yesterday that there was a powerful case for codifying the reserve powers of the Head of State and the conventions used in the exercise of those powers.

At present the Constitution says the Governor-General may appoint and dismiss ministers, including the Prime Minister, and dissolve the House of Representatives and call and election. No rules are set down about the exercise of those powers. Conventions say the person who commands a majority on the floor of the House of Representatives is appointed Prime Minister and elections are called when the Prime Minister advises they be called.

An issues paper made public by the committee yesterday said, “”The scope of all these powers is contentious. The committee’s objective must be to ensure that all republican options maintain and reflect out representative parliamentary democracy. In the light of that objective, there is a powerful case for determining what, if any, reserve powers should be vested in the House of State and recording them in precise language either in the Constitution or legislation.”
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Politically, the plan has broad support by both major parties and the independents, as all were represented on the committee.

The plan will take some time for community groups to digest, but some were willing to give initial reactions yesterday.

The executive director of the MBA of the ACT, Bernie Bryant, welcomed the replacement of a multitude of former National Capital Development Commission policies with one document. The plan would provide certainty.
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The self-government laws passed by the Federal Parliament in 1988 require a National Capital Plan and a Territory Plan. The former was dealt with by the National Capital Planning Authority in the ensuing year and now has the force of law. The territory process required a plan to be drafted by the ACT Planning Authority. This was completed late last year. It was then sent to the Planning, Infrastructure and Development Committee of the Assembly (David Lamont, Trevor Kaine, Tony De Domenico, Annette Ellis and Helen Szuty).

It brought down its proposal yesterday after extensive community consultation. That consultation was centered around people’s comments on the ACTPA plan.

The ACT Government will now look at it (and good sources say the Government will accept it as is) and will formally table it as the Territory Plan in June. When it does, it will be accompanied by a definitive map showing detailed land uses in the city and the rest of the territory, except areas designated as national land, details of which can be found in the National Capital Plan.
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More public space, tighter energy-efficiency standards for houses and streamlined appeals against development by neighbours are the highlights of the proposed new Territory Plan presented to the Assembly (subs: presented not tabled) yesterday.

The 300-page plan, which details what, where and how Canberrans can or cannot build, from sheds to office blocks, was presented by the chair of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure, David Lamont.

New residential buildings will require a four-star (out of five) energy rating from July 1, 1995. It means things like glass facing north, use of cement slabs, perhaps double glazing, construction to maximise solar heat and so on. The committee called for laws so the building control can enforce insulation standards and other energy-saving devices.
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