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The Hon. M. R. EGAN (Treasurer, Minister for State Development, and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [8.30 p.m.]: I move:
That this House congratulate the Queensland Parliament on the seventy-ninth anniversary of the abolition of the Queensland Legislative Council.
The Hon. P. J. BREEN [8.31 p.m.]: I speak against the motion. The Queensland Parliament abolished its upper House in 1922. It was the most appalling thing that ever happened in Queensland, as far as I am concerned. The Queensland Parliament, particularly under Mr Belke-Petersen, was a disgrace to democracy.
The Hon. Jennifer Gardiner: Don't you worry about that!
The Hon. P. J. BREEN: Belke-Petersen used to arrive at the Queensland Parliament at breakfast time and look at the agenda to see what marches were on that day. If he discovered there was a march he did not agree with, he would approach the police Minister—I think it was Mr Lewis at the time—and say, "We have to pass a law in time to cancel this march. What time is the march on?" The police Minister would tell him and they would go into Parliament and introduce a law to cancel the march. That was democracy under Belke-Petersen with only one House of Parliament.The upper House acts as some form of check on the lower House. It protects minorities in the community who do not otherwise have a say in what has been called a bipolar form of parliamentary democracy. Without some kind of check and balance such as the upper House, committees would never be formed and there would never be an independent assessment of matters.
Debate adjourned on motion by the Hon. P. J. Breen.