Page 1083 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 23 June 1992
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There is another factor about that Bill that is most important. The Bill does not introduce anything other than what has been declared will happen - it has been on the table for over two months - and that is that the Termination of Pregnancy Act will be repealed. That is all it says and that is all it does. That is what people have known is going to happen and I think that that is a fairly straightforward case. In that sense, had Mr Lamont said two months or so ago, "I am going to introduce an amendment that will prevent exotic circus animals from being able to come to Canberra", then I would also support that going through the Assembly this evening.
Mr Lamont: We said it four years ago. The report said it four years ago.
MR MOORE: Mr Lamont interjects, "We said it four years ago". Mr Lamont was not here four years ago. In fact his Minister, his Labor Minister, tabled a Bill that did not do what he is talking about. So, there was an indication to the public that that would not be the case. The animal welfare legislation did not do what Mr Lamont said. Therefore that Bill is going to sit on the table, as far as I am concerned, until the next session. Had Mr Lamont announced that circus animals were going to be banned at the same time that Mr Berry announced that there was going to be a change to the Termination of Pregnancy Act, then perhaps we could have a very good reason to put that Bill through in this session as well.
It seems to me that the role of the Independents in this Assembly - perhaps I will reiterate here what Ms Szuty has said - is undermined by cutting the general process short. I think that in this first session of the Assembly there have been some reasons - I started by saying that it is not all just black and white; it is not so easy - for some Bills to be put through faster than would be appreciated. I think this MPI comes in at an appropriate time to raise the issues and to say, "Okay, it is not black and white, but at least you should understand that it is our feeling that generally we should have appropriate time to be able to undertake due research in order to get an understanding of the short- and long-term ramifications of legislation".
Time, energy and resource wasting is exactly what goes on when we find that we have very short notice to deal with such Bills. Of course, the public generally view members of the Assembly as irresponsible if something goes wrong when we have tried to put that time, effort and resources into it. The truth of the matter is that most of us do not have the general resources to back us up to do that sort of thing. We are starting to run out of time and energy in many ways, as well. We are making decisions that affect many lives. I believe that our responsibility is quite awesome. Public consultation and informed debate are vital to the process, so Assembly members must have time to research the consequences of each proposal and to consult with the community before being asked to vote on those issues. It certainly is my wish that that become the general practice. The general practice up to now has been the opposite.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (3.51): Madam Speaker, I suggest that there is no matter of public importance. This is a political debate. The first issue I want to deal with is the way that the policies of the various groups have affected the course of this debate. The Liberals, on the one hand, have a set of policies which they have developed over a bunch of years. They were elected on those policies and they each share the responsibilities of this house.
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