Page 3490 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
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Women are particularly at risk. With no provision for partner notification, the introduction of coded notification is irresponsible, to say the least. If the Government truly believe that this report is the bible, why could they not read the second page of the report? Why could they not introduce appropriate partner notification legislation at the same time? I believe that the answer is that they introduced these regulation changes in a hurry to bail out their Health Minister.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (10.53): Madam Speaker, we have just heard a tirade of what I would describe as murderous Goebbels-speak.
Opposition members: Oh!
MR BERRY: I withdraw that. It was a litany of half-truths designed to create panic in the community.
Mr Humphries: Madam Speaker, I would ask you to rule "half-truths" to be unparliamentary.
MR BERRY: Half an imputation. It is all right.
MADAM SPEAKER: I will take that one on notice, Mr Humphries. Please continue, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: It was a litany of half-truths, Madam Speaker, designed to create panic amongst women in the community in a most unashamed grab at a few political points. I was sickened this morning to hear Mrs Carnell on the radio taking a position which will result, if it is successful - and of course it will not be, because sensible people will not allow it to be - in the spread of AIDS in the community. What Mrs Carnell has proposed would result in fewer people coming forward for attention. There is no question about that. Many fewer people would come forward for attention. The result would be a wider spread of AIDS and more people would die. More innocent people would die if you listened to the madness which is being proposed by Mrs Carnell, the part-time member of this Assembly. You can easily tell by the quality of her work. The sort of madness that she has come out with in relation to this matter is something for the Liberals to be ashamed of, because it will result in more deaths in the community if it is allowed to occur.
The Labor Party will not stand back and allow this to happen. What is being proposed is something which would affect the public health of the ACT community for a long time into the future. Mrs Carnell waves around the final report of the legal working party of the Intergovernmental Committee on AIDS. It makes it very clear that the way to go is by way of coded information in relation to these matters. All of the modern and forward thinking experts in this area agree with this approach - except for Mrs Carnell and a couple of the other Liberals.
Mrs Carnell: And the AMA.
MR BERRY: The AMA - Bruce Shepherd. Forward and modern thinking, she describes it as. Mr Kaine ought to think about putting Mr Humphries back in the health area. At least I know that Mr Humphries has more sense than to take this position in relation to the matter. He would once have taken a more compassionate view on this issue. Maybe even he has been tarnished by the
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