Page 3300 - Week 11 - Thursday, 12 September 1991
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MR STEVENSON: Thanks. Prior to coming into this Assembly and becoming a member of the Standing Committee on Social Policy, specifically for the public behaviour inquiry, I had no idea that alcohol was the problem it obviously is. It is one of the major problems facing society and I certainly think something should be done. The first thing that should be done is that the recommendations of this Assembly should be followed before any other inquiry is undertaken. That would suggest that we have good faith about doing something.
I am extremely concerned about the money that another inquiry would take. However, I would be prepared to recommend that that happen under the right circumstances. I just feel at this particular moment that this motion is not it.
MR HUMPHRIES (5.12): Mr Speaker, this motion has caused the Liberal Party some concern. We have discussed this at some length in order to reach a view on the matter. Our view after that discussion is that the motion is fundamentally right in order to raise the question of reviewing the matters in that list under those dot points. Clearly, problems concerning the distribution and availability of alcohol in our community give rise to a whole series of other problems through a ripple effect. It is appropriate in those circumstances for us to address that important question in an appropriately detailed fashion.
The issue, of course, is who conducts the inquiry, what form it should take and what period should be allowed to provide for the inquiry's deliberations and for them to be made available to this Assembly and to the Government for its consideration. The view of the Liberal Party, Mr Speaker, is that this motion should be supported but that the reporting date should be amended. An amendment has been circulated in my name and, with leave, I will speak to that.
Clearly, requiring an inquiry to report by 30 November is too soon. Such a motion is clearly designed to provide for this issue to be an election issue and, as such, we would not support that. We do not believe that there is any need for this matter to be determined within the space of six or seven weeks, as would be the case if the motion, unamended, were passed today. We do, however, acknowledge the value of discussing those issues and of determining whether some action can be taken to address problems in those areas. As a result, we are prepared to move an amendment to that motion to provide for a reporting date of 29 February 1992, after the election due in that month.
The Liberal Party's policy, on police and justice and elsewhere, makes reference on a number of occasions to alcohol and its effects. The policy produced the Bill, moved only yesterday by Mr Stefaniak in this place, dealing with the places in this Territory where people may consume
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