Page 99 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 April 1992
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MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell complains that this matter has been on the plate. We are not here to suit pharmacists. She has to forget the old mortar and pestle; she is now a member of the Assembly. She is responsible for government in the ACT, not the interests of pharmacists. Just forget the mortar and pestle; leave it behind you. We want to do this objectively and work through it sensibly, and that is what we are doing. There has been an increase of clients being provided with methadone.
Mr Moore: From 107 to 112.
MR BERRY: That was in the short period of the Labor Government, and I take some pride from that because I think it was an improvement, and any improvement is good. It will be further improved. But it is not something that one rushes into; it is something that is done properly. There has been some consideration of this by the Board of Health. Officers in my area are considering amendments required to the Drugs of Dependence Act and these issues will be considered by Government in due course. Of course, the issue of community pharmacies will be taken into account. It is on the legislation program and we will do it. I said that we will do it and it will be done.
Mr Kaine: Next year, the year after, the one after that?
MR BERRY: Mr Kaine knows that one does not speculate about Cabinet business. It will take its place in the order of Cabinet business. I note that Mrs Carnell tries to introduce unnecessary emotion into the debate. People are interested in the people who can be saved by way of a methadone program; nobody more than Labor is interested in that. It has been promised that there will be changes that will be in the interests not only of pharmacists; they will be in the interests of the community and those people who are addicts to opioids in the community. We will make sure that the program that is developed is developed properly and thoughtfully and that it has the support of all of the people who are subject to its influences. Of course, as time passes there will be further embarrassment for the Liberal Party because of the haste and expertise of the Labor Party in government.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (11.58): It is interesting the way that the Minister for Health ducks for cover, obfuscates, and merely procrastinates when an issue like this comes up.
Mr Berry: Have a look at the legislation program. Are you blind or something?
MR KAINE: There are all sorts of things on your legislation program. I will be interested to see whether any of them ever see the light of day. There are all sorts of things in your policy platform, too, that never saw the light of day before the election. Some of them are starting to surface now, and some of them, no doubt, will catapult to the top of the priorities of the Labor Party, although the Chief Minister says that some of them do not have very much of a priority; but we will see in what order they come forward.
I think that this is a good motion that Mr Moore has brought forward. It is obviously something that has long been needed in this community. It is something that Mr Berry said he would do.
Mr Berry: And will.
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