Page 1065 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 1991
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MR CONNOLLY: All Mr Jensen can say is, "Why didn't you do anything?". We have done something. We have introduced legislation that will provide that protection by way, perhaps, of an interim measure - I am prepared to accept that - by way, perhaps, of a stopgap measure, if Mr Humphries thinks that is a clever debating point. I would say that, if you asked the citizens of this Territory, "Would you prefer to keep being sold off-food, rancid food, rotting food, or have protection by way of a Labor stopgap Bill?", they would take the protection every time. They would not care if it is an interim measure, a stopgap measure. They want the protection, and that is what we have proposed.
The Government's only response is not that it should not happen; it is not that this is not an effective form of protection; it is that this is an interim measure; that the government Bill, if and when we see it, will be better. We do not doubt that, because we are aware that a lot of work has been done on this over the years. It is a complex area. The comprehensive food legislation that Mr Humphries is referring to will be a very difficult task of drafting. It will cover a lot more than this simple Bill, which simply relates to use-by dates, and it will, no doubt, improve the body of Territory law; but, in the meantime, we are prepared to provide protection.
Mr Jensen, like a broken record, can only say, "What did you do, what did Labor do in its bare six months of government?". Well, Mr Jensen, your lot have been there a year now and nothing has happened on this. We have produced a Bill which will protect the consumers of this Territory from the sale of substandard products, substandard products that cannot be sold over the border and substandard products that we have reason to believe - the belief is widely held in Canberra - are being brought into this Territory for sale. We are an island within New South Wales. We are the only island within New South Wales where this substandard and shoddy merchandise can be offered for sale, and it is not surprising that traders would seek, in compliance with the law, to sell food here that it is an offence to sell across the border. The very simple measure that we have proposed - it is true that it is a simple measure - that has been adopted in New South Wales to date and that has stopped this trade in New South Wales, would give that protection until we see Mr Humphries' Bill.
We are quite happy to debate this one out there in the constituency. We are quite happy to say to consumers, "Mr Humphries is prepared for you to eat substandard food, for you to serve to your families substandard food, and he thinks that you would rather have that while you wait for this comprehensive Bill; whereas we on the Labor side have prepared a measure that would stop that trade within a week if this Bill was passed - indeed, within a couple of days, because a Bill can be passed into law very quickly in this Territory".
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