Page 3495 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
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MR BERRY: You are using public health as an issue to frighten the community into a view which is patently wrong. You cannot use those sorts of tactics with any sense of responsibility and get away with it. You are not going to get away with it while I am about, I can tell you. I will not sit back and allow those sorts of things. I was sickened to hear Mrs Carnell on that issue this morning, because what she was about was frightening a few women out there on an issue which she has no right to do.
Mr Kaine: You have been caught with your hand in the bickie barrel. That is your problem.
Mr Lamont: Madam Speaker, I rise to a point of order on the imputation contained in the suggestion of the current Leader of the Opposition in relation to an assertion about the bickie barrel and the Minister.
MR BERRY: About what?
MADAM SPEAKER: I am sorry, Mr Lamont; I did not hear the comment.
Mr Humphries: None of us did, by the sound of it.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Humphries, do you have a point of order?
Mr Lamont: I move for an extension of time for Mr Berry.
MADAM SPEAKER: Just a minute; I have not finished speaking about the point of order. I did not actually hear it. If you like, I will examine the Hansard and come back to it if it is in the record.
MR BERRY: (Extension of time granted) Creating a panic about partner notification in circumstances where it is not necessary is irresponsible in the extreme. It is not what Mrs Carnell is about. She is not concerned about this issue of partner notification. What she has demonstrated by her actions so far on this issue is that she is concerned about grabbing a few votes; no more than that. That has been clearly demonstrated. Mr Kaine wears the responsibility for this.
Mr Kaine: I do not wear any responsibility. You are a disgrace. You wear the responsibility.
MR BERRY: You do wear the responsibility as the leader of the party, I am afraid. If you drive underground one person who is involved in risky behaviour out there and one more person is infected with AIDS, you wear the responsibility for that; and that is what Mrs Carnell's approach will result in. The experts know that. Why cannot you people pull her into line? You cannot allow this sort of risky politicking to continue. There is a clear message coming through from experts in this country that the best way to get people to come forward for treatment for this disease is to create circumstances where their privacy is not interfered with and they will not be discriminated against. I have said that before, but it does not seem to have sunk in. If somebody is infected with AIDS they have nothing to lose; they have nothing at all to lose.
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