Page 2025 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Mr Humphries: Madam Speaker, speaking to the point of order - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: Excuse me, Mr Humphries. Mrs Carnell, you may like to look at standing order 52.
MRS CARNELL: I know what it is.
MADAM SPEAKER: You are aware of the provisions of that?
MRS CARNELL: Yes.
MADAM SPEAKER: I caution you to be aware of that aspect.
MRS CARNELL: Let us talk about cannabis for a moment. Cannabis is a dangerous drug. Unlike alcohol, which usually leaves the body within 24 hours because it is water soluble, marijuana is fat soluble, which means that the psychotropic chemicals can be detected in the body as much as 30 days after the initial use. Extensive research has indicated that cannabis may impair short-term memory and has serious effects on perception and performance skills, such as driving and other complex tasks involving judgment. A marijuana cigarette contains more cancer causing agents than the strongest tobacco cigarette.
Mr Berry: Madam Speaker, I take a point of order. I understand that one of the amendment Bills, the Drugs of Dependence (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) placed before the house by Mr Moore, covers this issue. This is pre-empting debate on the matter. We do not have - - -
MRS CARNELL: I was talking about the substance, not about the Bill.
MADAM SPEAKER: Again, just be cautious about pre-empting any debate, please, Mrs Carnell.
MRS CARNELL: Does the Government wish to promote a society tolerant of the problems we see in places like Amsterdam, where cannabis is readily available in many cafes? Moving on to the abortion issue, how this Labor Government seems to believe that it can find the $800,000 needed to establish an abortion clinic and at the same time find adequate money for improved services for our intellectually disabled is totally beyond me - and it cannot. I am sure that very few Canberra residents realise that the Follett Labor Government would choose a freestanding abortion clinic over a cardio-thoracic unit and over improved palliative care services.
This is a left-wing, heartless, selfish social agenda that this Government is pursuing. They choose abortion over the intellectually disabled. It is not an agenda that the people of Canberra have been consulted about. Instead of sensible administration to try to solve the very real problems that Canberra people face, such as youth unemployment, this Labor Government wants to change the values that are essential to our society, and, so far as they are concerned, the more controversial the better; the more people that do not agree the better.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .