Page 101 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 April 1992
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program, and give me a report by the middle of May that you have actually done it, please". That is all that is required. Mr Service and the Board of Health, and Ms Biscoe, will get on with it and do it. So, just give us the evidence tomorrow that you have made that request of the Board of Health. Mr Moore will be happy; Mrs Carnell will be happy; I will be happy and I will not nag you about the subject ever again.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (12.04), by leave: I move the following amendment to Mr Moore's motion:
Omit "potential".
Mrs Carnell: Is that because no clients have potential?
Mr Moore: No. That limits it to the 107 he already has.
MR BERRY: No, it does not. Potentially it could cover the whole of the ACT. "That the ACT methadone program be expanded to meet the needs of all its clients" is reasonable wording, in my view. You do not cover people who are not your clients, and one has to be on the program, or an applicant for the program, to be a client. Potentially you are saying that every person in the ACT could be on the methadone program.
Mr De Domenico: And beyond.
MR BERRY: And beyond. It seems to me to be a rational approach. It does not change the direction of the motion, and the Government will, of course, support the motion. The Leader of the Opposition does not seem to have noticed that the Government is already taking action. Instructions do not have to be issued; it is under way.
Mr Kaine: What action have you taken? Would you like to explain this?
MR BERRY: It is under way. That is the problem when you are in opposition; you cannot always have command of things. In opposition you have to sit back and you will not have all the access to the information that you might like. Progress through the Cabinet process, as we all know, is done with some confidentiality. We will treat it that way. We have told you that we are going to do something. It is on the legislation program. Settle down; relax; it will be all right. You will get a result. You will get a result which will be sensibly thought out, and one which will be in the better interests of the community. I seek your support for my amendment.
MR HUMPHRIES (12.06): Madam Speaker, I am less than assured by the Minister's comment that he has it all under control; that his cerebral energy is working overtime to produce a better result for us. I am afraid, Madam Speaker, that I am not confident at all. In fact, the panic button has been hit by comments like that by this Minister. I support the motion Mr Moore has brought forward. My own time in Government as Minister taught me that there is a considerable need for a program such as this; indeed, that there is a need for an expansion of the program.
Mr Berry: Why didn't you do it?
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