Page 926 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 17 June 1992
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MR DE DOMENICO (11.15): Madam Speaker, I am going to be very brief. I am going to reiterate virtually what the Leader of the Opposition said. It is up to the Government if Mr Berry is so concerned about the involvement, or purported involvement, of Mrs Carnell. If in fact Mrs Carnell did apply as the Red Hill pharmacy to be a treatment centre - and might I say what a wonderful pharmacy it is - the Government has the option of not approving the Red Hill pharmacy as an approved treatment centre.
I would also like to remind Mr Berry that Mrs Carnell was elected to the committee that she happens to be on by the whole of this Assembly, and part of that Assembly is Mr Berry. The other point I make to Mr Berry, who tries to hold himself up as the paragon of community conscience, is that a Morgan gallup poll shows that the profession with the highest approval rating in regard to ethics and honesty is pharmacy, with 79 per cent. Union leaders, Mr Berry, come in at 8 per cent, and State and Federal politicians come in slightly higher, at 10 per cent. So your credibility has gone up slightly since your union days, but it still has a long way to go to reach the 79 per cent that Mrs Carnell enjoys.
Mrs Grassby: They say pretty terrible things about insurance agents, by the way.
MR DE DOMENICO: Don't you talk about pharmacists, Mrs Grassby, because we know that some of your mates are good ones.
Mrs Grassby: They say pretty terrible things about insurance agents; they are way down the bottom.
MR DE DOMENICO: Some of your mates are really good pharmacists. We all know all about your mates, Mrs Grassby.
Mrs Grassby: That is right; insurance agents are way down the bottom. So you do not have much chance at all.
MR DE DOMENICO: Some of your mates cannot even make wine properly.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (11.17), in reply: Come on! That is outrageous.
MADAM SPEAKER: Luckily, I could not hear it; so continue, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: I think, Madam Speaker, it is just as well that you did not, because it was just a grubby attack on people outside this Assembly who cannot defend themselves.
Mr Kaine complained bitterly that the Government had drawn an important matter to the attention of this Assembly. Strategically, the Liberals have made a giant blunder because they have allowed one of their members to commit to this Assembly legislation which a reasonable person in the street could construe as a conflict of interest. That is a Liberal problem; I understand that. I tried to save them from it, and they do not want to do what I suggested.
But what is most interesting, Madam Speaker, is that the Leader of the Opposition sat there quietly when leave was sought to debate this motion. There was no secret about the motion. Leave was given by the Leader of the Opposition. That might demonstrate to this Assembly the level of division
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