Page 3932 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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MR HUMPHRIES: Well, I get two says as well, Mr Berry. Mr Speaker, it is quite untrue to suggest, as Mr Berry has just suggested, that it was the Labor Party which first moved to do something about this. Mr Berry well knows that the genesis of this legislation goes back at least seven years, and perhaps more than 10. There were community moves to have this legislation put into law long before Mr Berry and I were players on the public stage of the ACT.
Mr Berry: I got the first set of drafting instructions ready, Gary. I know who did it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Berry says that putting in place the first set of drafting instructions means that they were the first to do something about it. I dispute that. Preparing drafting instructions is not the first thing to do about a piece of legislation. You decide on policy, you develop the framework, and you do a great many other things before it comes to that stage. Again, I think it is most unfortunate that the Labor Party claims credit for being the first. It is saying, "We are the true fathers of this legislation". I think that is a slightly selfish claim, particularly with respect to all those public servants and others who, quite independently of any political party, have been working for a number of years to bring this to fruition. In that light those sorts of statements are extremely unfair.
Mr Speaker, I am particularly galled by Mr Berry's comments about tardy performance. Mr Berry did attack the legislation by saying that he believed it was being influenced by the tobacco companies. He made that direct and unambiguous suggestion some weeks ago, at the end of the last sitting session of the Assembly before this session started, and suggested thereby that there was some influence of the tobacco companies on this Government. It is particularly galling to hear him say that this Government has a tardy performance when he himself came into the chamber last week and suggested amendments to this legislation as a result of that delay.
The Government put the legislation on the table for public comment, public consultation and debate. There has been a considerable amount of that. What is more, Mr Berry has taken advantage of that extended period of consultation to propose some amendments. It is richly galling to hear him come to this place and say we were tardy. If it were not for that, we might not have had the chance to consider the amendments that Mr Berry put to me last week.
I do find it difficult to accept some criticism, particularly when it is like that. I do not think that the Bill is one that we should be fighting over. It is important legislation for the people of the Territory. We should all be welcoming its passage, not attempting to score political points off each other about it, but rather saying this legislation is a valuable piece of legislation which should stand ACT Legislative Assembly in better stead
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