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Thursday, 31 October 1996
Page: 4866


Senator CAMPBELL (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Sport, Territories and Local Government)(11.50 a.m.) —I might be frivolous here just to lighten things up. The first definition I saw of `fair' actually said `an amusement place to be amused' and `having merry-go-rounds', but that is not what you are looking for. The legal argument is that in fact there is no special meaning to this. It has its ordinary meaning, and that is the legal context of the object and the word `fair' in the objects.


Senator Margetts —Which is?


Senator CAMPBELL —It is the ordinary meaning of it. If you want me to quote from the dictionary, I can tell you what the dictionary definition is. It is, indeed, an amusement show, but it is also:

free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice; . . . that is legitimately sought, pursued, done, given . . . proper under the rules; . . .

It refers to things like: fair game, moderately good, satisfactory, et cetera. The legal response to your question is that the word `fair' in the objects of the act has no special meaning.