Page 573 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 May 1992
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I think that the difference between what John Stuart Mill said and what we are doing here is that in a sense the social context in which people conduct their affairs has changed a great deal. Of course, in Mill's day, questions such as illness and penury and things of that kind were very much private matters. If I fell ill, if I was not able to pay my debts, these were matters purely between me and my creditors, or me and my creator in the case of illness. These were not matters in which general society was involved.
We take a different view today. People who are ill today are cared for by the community. People who cannot afford to buy food are provided for, to some extent, by the community. So, in a sense we have a society which intrudes, if you like, into that previously private world of an individual's well-being. I suppose one argues that the corollary of that interference is that the broader community has some right to protect its interest, if you like, in the health and well-being of that person. The argument goes that, because the community will pick up the tab if an individual falls off his bicycle and cracks his head open and has to be treated, then the community has some right to mitigate the damage or loss that flows to the community by virtue of that happening. As a result it is expected that people in those circumstances will take some measures to protect themselves, and, if they do not, then, in certain circumstances, the community will demand that they have sanctions imposed against them until they do.
The principle, I think, was established quite clearly when some years ago now the community supported the concept of seat belts, and that has already been mentioned, I think, in this debate. I think that was the initiative of a Liberal government at some point 20 or so years ago, and I cannot argue with that initiative. It certainly has caused the saving of many lives and it certainly has resulted in some small intrusion into people's private lives; but, I think, at a great saving to the public purse and no doubt to the purses of insurance companies.
There is a principle here, though, which is being invaded and which is quite important. We need to bear it in mind. We all must enjoy some right to do some things to our bodies which the community as a whole might not see as desirable. I suppose, in the same continuum, that eventually the Government could bring forward a Bill to ration the amount of cream that we all consume, on the basis that large consumption of cream will lead to heart disease which will have to be treated probably in our public hospitals, and that imposes some cost on the public purse. I, for one, would defend my right to consume as much cream as I wish. So, there is a real argument about how far one goes in defending the public's right to impose itself into the private affairs of individuals. I do not know where that line is drawn. I think that it is drawn such that we are entitled to compel cyclists to wear helmets; but it is a fine argument.
The argument is also put, Madam Speaker, that the number of people injured on our roads and our cycleways through not wearing helmets is relatively small compared with, for example, injuries in motor cars or even as pedestrians, and that again - - -
Mr Berry: They should wear helmets in motor cars.
MR HUMPHRIES: That again is a compelling argument. Mr Berry says, and I think the Cyclists Rights Action Group actually argue, that it would be as logical to make people in motor cars and on the streets wear helmets as it would be to make cyclists wear helmets.
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