Page 2654 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 October 1992
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got in any other way. It was interesting to go to Sydney and to hear exactly what was said. It was interesting that the Health Department there said that they are not sure that if they had their time over again they would agree to methadone going into pharmacies. They felt that it was rushed far too quickly in New South Wales. They felt that if they had their time over they would not rush it like that; they would give more thought to it and give more training in that area. As I say, I quite enjoyed talking to these people and learning about the program, and I am very grateful for that.
Debate (on motion by Mr Berry) adjourned.
MUTUAL RECOGNITION (AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY) BILL 1992
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (11.01): Madam Speaker, I present the Mutual Recognition (Australian Capital Territory) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MS FOLLETT: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Speaker, the purpose of this Bill is to enable the ACT to enter into a scheme for the mutual recognition of regulatory standards for goods and occupations adopted in Australia. The principal aim of mutual recognition is to remove the needless artificial barriers to interstate trade in goods and the mobility of labour caused by regulatory differences among Australian States and Territories. Mutual recognition is expected to greatly enhance the international competitiveness of the Australian economy and is a major step forward in the achievement of micro-economic reform. It involves a recognition by all governments that the time has come for Australia to create a truly national market which the parochial politics of successive governments have frustrated for almost 100 years.
Madam Speaker, at the Special Premiers Conference in Brisbane in October 1990 heads of government agreed to apply mutual recognition of standards in all areas where uniformity was not considered essential to national economic efficiency. This Bill is the result of extensive liaison between the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories involving the Commonwealth-State Committee on Regulatory Reform. A nationwide consultation process sought input from business, industry, trade unions, the professions, standards setting bodies, and consumer and community representatives on any necessary refinements to the mutual recognition models agreed to by heads of government. Some 200 written submissions were received.
It is important to note that mutual recognition is intended to complement the efforts of regulatory authorities in achieving nationally uniform standards. It will not impede those efforts where it is agreed that uniform national standards are necessary. On the contrary, it is likely that mutual recognition will hasten the successful resolution of such endeavours. It is an indication of the commonsense which underlies the concept of mutual recognition that these proposals have had the clear support of governments of all political persuasions from the outset.
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