From the Moonee Valley Community News:

Maiden speech raises eyebrows
January 22, 2007 5:21 PM
By Goya Bennett

THE only Liberal MP in the west has described stem-cell and anti-vilification laws as ‘’evil'’.

In his maiden speech to Parliament, Western Metropolitan upper house MP Bernie Finn said the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission should stop trying to ‘’inflict its warped view of the world on the rest of us'’.

Mr Finn said political correctness was ‘’a cancer'’ that had caused police morale to plummet.

He said Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, a former member of the NSW police force, was ‘’not fit'’ for the job.

‘’Since the appointment … of an obscure officer with little operational experience, from arguably the most corrupt police force in this nation, public perception of our police and the morale of membership has nosedived.

‘’Christine Nixon should go, and she should go now.'’
Mr Finn said Parliament would do its duty to the community by ensuring major drug dealers ‘’no longer walk this earth'’.

Quoting his political hero, former US president Ronald Reagan, Mr Finn said the Government’s first duty was to protect people, not run their lives.

He said it was the Government’s responsibility to protect ‘’children before they are born'’ but not to suppress freedom through equal opportunity legislation.

He said the Equal Opportunity Commission was a ‘’tool for the forced implementation of politically correct social engineering'’.

Mr Finn labelled the Racial and Religious Vilification Act as ‘’evil'’.

He also claimed that the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibility was legislation that former Soviet dictator ‘’[Joseph] Stalin would be proud of'’.

He proposed a parliamentary royal commission to investigate the ‘’billions'’ spent by the Aboriginal bureaucracy.

As the west’s sole Liberal Party representative, Mr Finn said he would put the needs of the west ahead of the needs of Labor Party hacks.

Martin Pakula, who is one of three Labor representatives for the Western Metropolitan region, said Mr Finn’s views would horrify most voters.

‘’It’s pretty obvious to me that Bernie’s attitudes, his nature and aspirations don’t coincide with those of many people in the inner west.

‘’His derisory comments about Aboriginal reconciliation, his comments about stem-cell research … many voters in the west would be horrified to know that someone expressing those sorts of views is representing them.

‘’He represents the views of a small subset of the Liberal Party - extreme, ultra-conservatism.

‘’Those values don’t sit very comfortably with the values of many people in the western suburbs.'’