Page 2792 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 20 October 1992
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Mr Berry: It has not been proposed yet, Michael, and you have already made up your mind.
MR MOORE: Mr Berry interjects that I have already made up my mind. That simply is not the case, Madam Speaker. I have always said that I am interested in seeing the outcome of that trial. It is the only point in doing it. Mr Berry wants to distract me for a while, but I have given as much time as I can to deal with the ridiculous statements that he has made. Madam Speaker, to be more specific, if he had read the Drugs of Dependence Act, which I very much doubt, his attention would have been caught by paragraph 150(1)(d), which says:
... the premises specified in the application are fit and proper premises for the conduct of a treatment centre of the type specified in the application ...
That, in broad terms, takes into account the very issues that he has raised about residential requirements. It is there. There is an approval process already, under a heading "Approval - grant" in the Drugs of Dependence Act. Mr Berry ought to realise that there is already, in his Act, the possibility of providing for those issues.
In terms of supplying and administering methadone at the proposed treatment centre and a satisfactory course of instruction, Madam Speaker, we are dealing with professionals. We are dealing with pharmacists and doctors who are professionals and there has been a growing awareness in the use of methadone over the last 18 months, right across Australia, culminating in an international conference on methadone earlier this year.
Mr Berry: How many in the ACT? None.
MR MOORE: That being the case, these medical practitioners will realise their own responsibilities in terms of the need for appropriate training.
Mr Berry: Not one.
MR MOORE: Mr Berry interjects that there is not one in the ACT. That may well be the case. Mind you, Mr Berry is wrong as far as that goes, I must say, again, because there certainly is more than one person - - -
Mr Berry: How many?
MR MOORE: You said "not one", Mr Berry. Let me name Dr Keith Powell, who has recently retired. He is looking after it. You said that there was not one medical practitioner in the ACT who had done it. He has retired. Who has replaced him? Somebody that you have appointed. So, Mr Berry, once again, has been moving to deal heavily with a furphy, or lightly with something else. It seems to me, Madam Speaker, that it is getting to the stage where it is very difficult to believe Mr Berry on anything that he is presenting over this Bill. He seems to have put on a set of horse blinkers. He should have put on the nosebag as well. That is the sort of stuff we are being fed.
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