Page 1717 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 30 April 1991
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passing of the racketeer-influenced corrupt organisations legislation, or RICO laws. The essence of the legislation is that corporate offenders accused under the RICO statute can be brought before a tribunal and their business practices examined. It is not required under the statute that the matter be conducted as a full criminal trial, but merely that the business activities of the persons involved need to be reviewed because of their connections and associations with alleged crime syndicates.
I have shown that there is a problem that needs to be solved. I believe that the eyes of the community have turned to the ACT in anticipation that this Assembly has the ability to understand the use to which the ACT is being put, and that we are assisting in that use while ever we fail to legislate against X-rated videos. If we fail, then we are leaving the door open for the further inroads of organised crime into Australian society. Mr Speaker, I thank the Alliance for granting leave in this matter earlier on today.
National Heart Week : Canberra's Heart
MRS GRASSBY (9.48): I rise to speak on the importance of acknowledging National Heart Week. We all know the importance of a healthy heart, but few of us really make the necessary adjustments in our lifestyle to ensure a strong and healthy heart - that is, until the Heart Foundation spends thousands of dollars on advertising to get the message through. Heart Week indirectly tells us a message about life in general. None of us can survive for long without a healthy heart, and no community can survive when its heart is breaking. There are people in Canberra today with very heavy hearts, and this Liberal Government opposite me is responsible.
Take the health system. Do Mr and Mrs Citizen in Canberra really know what is to become of them and their family if they are faced with a health problem? Not any more, thanks to Mr Humphries' policies of "close 'em up and move 'em out". Our elderly, and the chronically sick and disabled, the most vulnerable people in the community, are disheartened by the actions of this hard-hearted Alliance Government.
I recommend that Mr Humphries take a good long look at the state of his own heart. Is it so hardened now that only major surgery in a Sydney heart hospital can save it? Where is the heart of Canberra's community? Yes, you guessed it, in the neighbourhoods. But what has happened to this heart? It has been ripped out by its arteries; that is what has happened to it. All the warning signs were given to the Alliance Government. "Do not embark on the road to sure death or you will pay the price", has been the catchcry from the community. Is not this also the same message of the Heart Foundation, "Look after your heart"?
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