Crispin Hull

Early next week the ACT Electoral Commission will make a very large contribution to the amount of paper that goes into our big bin with the yellow lid. As required by law, it is dropping in every letter box a 28-page, A4 size, explanation of the referendum we are all to vote in on February 18. It contains also a Yes case agreed upon by the Labor, Liberal and two Independents and a No case written by Abolish Self-Government MLA Dennis Stevenson. As voters flick through it on the way from letter box to bin, they will be left with a clear typographical impression they should vote No. Whereas the Yes is very poorly presented.

More of that anon. The referendum is to entrench the electoral system that about 65 per cent of the people approved in the advisory referendum in 1992, plus a few incidentals. It is by no means a foregone conclusion that the people will vote in that proportion again. It is unlikely, but it would not surprise me if the referendum were not passed. This is due to several factors: A quirk in the Federal self-government legislation which in practice requires that about 60 per cent of formal voters have to say Yes before the referendum is carried. A different make-up of the electorate. Ignorance and apathy, (not to be confused with stupidity, which most voters are not). And the nature of the Yes and No case going out to voters next week. Let’s take these one by one. Most legislation or constitutions providing for referendums have words like “”a majority of all electors voting” as the test for whether the referendum passes. The test therefore is 50 per cent plus one of the people who turn up and vote formally. In the ACT, however, it is different. The people who drafted the Self-Government Act messed it up. The provision uses the words: “”If a majority of electors approve”.
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The ACT Government’s light-rail proposal would cost each household in the ACT $1250 over the next three years and fewer than 10 per cent of the population would use it, according to the ACT Opposition. Opposition Leader, Kate Carnell, said yesterday that Labor wanted to spend $120 million of taxpayers’ funds over the next three years to get the first stage of the project running. There would be a minimum 10 per cent extra in parking fees and fines and parking charges would be applied in Tuggeranong and Belconnen Town centres.

The Opposition would not support the light rail proposal because it was economically irresponsible and with a capital cost of $509 million could cripple the ACT economy because the bulk of it would have to be borrowed. The Minister for Urban Services, David Lamont, was talking quite seriously about spending the equivalent of what it would cost to build two new major hospitals. “”All this from a Government which allows our existing bus network to continue to run at a loss of more than $1 million a week,” she said. Last month the Government issued “”Public Transport Options Study _ Stage 3. Canberra Light Rail Implementation Study” by Booz-Allen and Hamilton. It said light rail was feasible for Canberra.
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Liberal legal affairs spokesman called upon the ACT Government yesterday to investigate claims made in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday alleging US organised crime involvement in the Act adult video industry. The ACT Attorney-General, Terry Connolly, said the Australian Federal Police and National Crime Authority had on-going investigations into organised crime links with adult videos. The ACT and Northern Territory had opted for a legal X-rated (non-violent erotica) video industry because it was harder for it to be infiltrated by organised crime. It also made it less likely for child pornography and unclassified violent pornography to flourish because the legal outlets were open to scrutiny and had a vested interest in staying within the law.

Elsewhere the underground industry made both X-rated and violent pornography available indiscriminately because both were illegal _ they thought they may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. “”You could find hard-core violent pornography videos within an hour in Sydney or Melbourne; I doubt you could find it here,” he said. Mr Humphries called for a review of probity procedures used in determining the granting of a licence for the operation of an adult video store. Probity checks by the Labor Government had been shown to be defective with Vitab.
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Keys points in environment log of claims: Population and growth study. Ban battery hens, laboratory experiments on animals. Fee for plastic bags at shops. No SES cars.

Stop parks watering with drinking water; use storm and lake water. Native plantings in public places. Stronger enforcement of waste, weeds and other environment laws. Remove public financial incentive for urban renewal. Stronger leasehold and multi-centred planning. Public nomination for government appointments. Replace “”growth” with “”sustainability” as driving force for industry and government policies.

The fate of three major planning hot spots in old Canberra will not be known before the election. The delay in one of the them, Old Red Hill, is affecting the marketing of the home of the Member for Canberra, Ros Kelly. Opposition Planning spokesman Greg Cornwell called last week for the ACT Government to announce its decisions on medium density proposals in Hunter Street, Yarralumla, and Lefroy Street, Griffith, before the election.

A further dispute over proposals for seven units in Wickham Crescent, Red Hill, is also unlikely to be resolved before the election. The Old Red Hill Preservation Society has called on all parties to clarify their position on redevelopment in the area before the election. Mr Cornwell also called on the Government to clarify what he called “”post-Landsdown confusion”. Planning Minister Bill Wood said it was not for him to make a political decision about the medium density proposals. They were in the middle of administrative processes. In Lefroy Street the ACT Planning Authority had refused the design and sitting application and the developer had appealed. The lease variation, however, had been approved and the third party residents had appealed. The result of the appeals is not yet decided. In Hunter Street the lease variation had been approved with conditions against which the developer had appealed and residents had appealed the variation. Mr Cornwell said people did not know whether to ground their appeals on the rules existing before the November 21 Landsdown report or on the new rules. He said the position on “”Cape Cod” extensions was unclear.
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Last night they came from “”the community sector”. The regular ACT Council of Social Service question the candidates night was held at Olim’s Ainslie Hotel and the words “”community sector” were articulated by ACTCOSS representatives and candidates alike. Now the “”community sector” is different from the community. The community is “”consulted” on every issue; the “”community sector” is consulted on only some issues _ because “”the community sector” is only part of the community. And last night the candidates opened themselves to questioning by this new-found euphemistic oxymoron. Indeed, last night “”the community sector” was broken down into other “”sectors”. We heard of the “”child-care sector”, the “”disabled sector” and so on. In all there were about 60 representatives of a dozen or so community-sector sectors. It was a different form of questioning than what has been seen in the past quarter century _ since television took over election campaigns and the public meeting became defunct.

ACTCOSS’s Ian De Landelles, who chaired the meeting, sagely pointed out, “”That’s the trouble with public meetings you never know what question you will get.” _ unlike a press conference full of journalists. For example, Trevor Kaine was not asked, “”Do you still hanker after the leadership like every thrown Liberal leader?” No; these questions were mundane and arcane. They were about “”12A long day-care centres”; tied Commonwealth grants for disabled people and the Griffin Centre.
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The ACT Government said yesterday it would consider changing licensing laws in the suburbs after unruly behaviour in Manuka on New Year’s Eve.The Attorney-General, Terry Connolly, said that he was not surprised that behaviour was unruly in Manuka while crowds in Civic were well-behaved.

He said he would refer the Manuka situation to the Community Safety Committee headed by Ken Begg.

The committee’s work and its report Civic By Night had helped reduce problems in Civic with co-operation of licensees who had tightened up on underage drinking and serving intoxicated people. Extra police presence and late-night public transport had also helped.
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The ACT wants its Aboriginal centre to be collocated with the Federal Government’s Gallery of Aboriginal Australia on Acton Peninsula. The Act Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, has written to the Prime Minister, seeking the collocation. Ms Follett said yesterday, “”The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council has indicated to me that it prefers a site on Acton Peninsula.” The $2.5 million ACT centre is to be funded from the $19 million tax raised from the Casino licence. The federal gallery _ part of the National Museum of Australia _ was announced in Mr Keating’s cultural statement last year.

At the time the ACT Government reacted favourably. Others saw it as the death knell to the museum’s preferred option of a full museum at Yarramundi Reach. This week ACT Opposition Leader Kate Carnell repeated a call for the Federal Government to go ahead with the full Museum at Yarramundi. The director of the museum, Margaret Coaldrake, is on leave, but the ACT Government has kept the museum informed.

Dangerous drugs, cash and assets handling at Melba Health Centre have been attacked by an internal audit prompted by an employee’s whistle-blowing.

A copy of the audit, by Coopers and Lybrand, obtained by The Canberra Times revealed that many of the employee’s allegations about sloppy cash and drug handling procedures and missing assets were correct.

No procedures to ensure all cash received is receipted and banked. No procedures to ensure Medicare bulk-billing reflected the nature of the consultation provided. Nearly half the items on the assets register could not be found at the centre.
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ACT Opposition Leader Kate Carnell called yesterday for an urgent review of all seven government-run health centres following defects found in procedures at the Melba centre by an independent audit. She said the audit had revealed lack of security over cash; no monitoring of assets; missing assets; drugs not secured in accordance with the Dangerous Drugs Act; purchase irregularities; flextime and leave irregularities. The Government had had the report by Coopers and Lybrand for nearly a month and had not made it public. “”Concerns about practices at Melba Health Centre have been expressed by former staff members for more than a year,” she said.

“”The Government has ignored these concerns and has allowed some fairly dubious practices to continue unchecked.” There was a need for a review across the system, she said. The Minister for Health, Terry Connolly, said the Government took allegations by employees of malpractice seriously and that was why it had commissioned the independent audit. It would deal with the specific findings about Melba and any systemic faults found by the audit would be looked at across all the health centres. All centres were subject to regular departmental review and review by the Auditor-General.