Page 2769 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 20 October 1992
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MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (8.25): I rise to support the Government's Bill in this debate but not Mrs Carnell's further proposals. As a debating point, during her remarks Mrs Carnell said, "The Labor Party is just interested in control. They are not worried about savings here; they are just interested in control". Too right we are concerned about control. We are talking here about methadone. We are talking about a very lethal, very addictive substance. We are talking about a substance on which, when not properly controlled, to use Mrs Carnell's attacking phrase, people have died. People have died, Mrs Carnell.
Mrs Carnell: Pharmacies dispense methadone every day.
MR CONNOLLY: And people have died in relation to those dispensing in Victoria. Mr Humphries made that comment earlier this afternoon in debate. He conceded that there have been instances where this sort of program has resulted in people dying. So, too right, we as a Labor government are concerned about control. To say that we are concerned about control here is something we will wear with some pride.
Mr Berry's approach is indeed a cautious approach, given the nature of the substance under consideration. The Government's proposal, which I note is supported as far as it goes - you would go further - provides for a controlled method of providing additional methadone places, and we are all agreed on the need for additional methadone places. Mr Berry, after considerable examination, has come up with a proposal which provides for those additional places, but does so in a controlled way.
Mr De Domenico: In a restricted way.
MR CONNOLLY: In a restricted way, Mr De Domenico, in the public interest, given the lethal nature of this substance. We had as an interjection from Mr Moore earlier the comment: "Oh, there is only about a 20 per cent leakage in New South Wales of - - -"
Mr Moore: I take a point of order, Madam Speaker. This is just another factually incorrect statement from the Minister. I did not say that at all. It was a point that was raised by Mr Berry in his speech. Get your facts right, Terry. You have got them all up the pole.
MR CONNOLLY: I do not know how that is a point of order. We have acknowledgment that there is leakage in the New South Wales system, and the particular model we seem to be looking at here is the New South Wales model. I would have thought Mr Moore would be the last person to point to the New South Wales system as a model of drug control. Go to Kings Cross and try to tell somebody that you are in a jurisdiction that is taking a sensible approach to drug control. I do not think anyone would believe you.
Madam Speaker, we are different from any other jurisdiction in Australia. We are in this community uniquely a city-state. We do enjoy certain infrastructure benefits that are simply not available in other jurisdictions, in particular the network of community health centres conveniently located around the Canberra community. That gives us the opportunity to provide controlled access to methadone, access involving medical practitioners, access involving the appropriate safeguards for urinalysis. On the matter of urinalysis, Mr Moore
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