Page 873 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 16 June 1992
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drafting. It is extremely vague and, in some aspects, both dangerous and intrusive. Most of the organisations that I have referred to have indicated their disappointment in the consultation relating to the Bill. For the Government to have assumed that consultation ceased when the policy statement was released in October 1990 was sadly wrong.
The Minister, Bill Wood, has refused to talk to representatives of the Australian Circus Federation, as has Mr Lamont. May I remind those gentlemen that they have an obligation to allow people to voice their concerns. This is not a closed shop; the Assembly is here to serve the people. For that process to occur effectively and honestly, members must make themselves available to hear the concerns of people when they so request, irrespective of their viewpoint. This is a Bill that needs much more consultation and refining. As for Mr Lamont's attempt to amend the Bill by banning exotic animals from circuses, we would rule that totally out of hand.
Madam Speaker, once again I am advocating a commonsense approach. The former long-serving executive director of the RSPCA, Mr Colin McCaskill, was reported in the Land of 21 November 1991 as claiming that new personalities were stamping their own ideals on the organisation but were also throwing commonsense out the window. Let us not make the same mistake in dealing with animal welfare in the ACT. Madam Speaker, I wish to give notice that at the conclusion of this debate I shall move that the debate be adjourned before commencement of the detail stage.
MR LAMONT (9.46): First of all I want to say that I have circulated an amendment in my name. I do not intend to address that until such time as we deal with it in the detail stage. I do wish to address a range of matters which have been raised by Mr Westende. Basically what has happened in relation to this matter, Madam Speaker, is that the Liberals have gone around in an attempt, I would suggest, to raise, again for political point-scoring objectives, a number of red herrings, and I intend to address those as they were outlined in Mr Westende's comments.
Let me first of all address the question of how the policy statement which Mr Westende has referred to, the animal welfare in the ACT policy statement, was arrived at. If Mr Westende and his colleagues care actually to read what is in there, rather than attempt to make political points out of this process, this will answer most of the concerns that Mr Westende raised in his address. The Bill was based on a policy statement which was developed in consultation with many community groups and individuals with an interest in animal welfare in the ACT. The policy statement received endorsement from the Alliance Government in 1990 and was subsequently endorsed by the Labor Government in October 1991. This policy statement, Madam Speaker, which talks about the banning of circus exotic animals and which talks about the other issues associated with this Bill, is the policy statement that these people across the room endorsed over two years ago. They want to talk about the length of consultation.
Mr Kaine: Not so. You are getting confused with your own caucus.
MR LAMONT: I hear the Leader of the Opposition. If this is indicative of the level of interest that the Leader of the Opposition takes in matters that his Government endorsed, then heaven help us. It does not say much for their consideration of the rest of these matters.
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