Page 3497 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
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Mr Berry: Madam Speaker, may I raise a point of order?
MADAM SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Berry, you may.
Mr Berry: Mr Humphries said that was a lie.
MR HUMPHRIES: I withdraw, Madam Speaker. The fact of life is, Madam Speaker, that Mr Berry told the Assembly something which is not true. Mr Berry told the Assembly something which has turned out to be inaccurate. Is that not the case, Mr Berry? Yes, it is the case. Mr Berry came to the Estimates Committee of this Assembly and admitted, "Yes, we have actually received legal advice which indicates quite clearly that HIV has always been, in the Territory, a notifiable disease". It always has been. That means notifiable in a compulsory sense, not in the coded - - -
Mr Berry: I never said that. Madam Speaker, Mr Humphries made an imputation that I said something that was not true. Therefore, there was a clear imputation. He has not backed it up with any information in relation to it. You cannot impute that people are fibbers in this. You would be the worst - - -
MR HUMPHRIES: You said the wrong thing. I withdrew "lie". I said that you were wrong. You gave inaccurate information.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Humphries, I was about to caution you on the provisions of standing order 55, which you are familiar with.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: We have spoken about this issue before. Whether the case is true or untrue, you are not permitted to impute improper motives. I caution you to remember that as you proceed with your speech.
MR HUMPHRIES: Madam Speaker, I repeat the statement, and I stand by the statement, that the Minister gave inaccurate information to the Assembly. He gave inaccurate information to the Assembly - information which was clearly repudiated by the legal advice he referred to before the Estimates Committee but would not table before the Estimates Committee.
Mr Berry: You have not seen it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed. Mr Berry, significantly, will not table that advice in this Assembly, or to the Estimates Committee. What has he to hide about this matter? If he has nothing to hide, let him table the advice. The fact is, Madam Speaker, that this Minister, this disgrace of a Minister, has been caught out. He knows, from reading the legislation, that the legislation does not conform with the view that he has expressed to the people of the ACT, particularly the doctors. He has hoped to be able to avoid the consequences of that now, retrospectively, by bringing forward regulations which make it clear that in fact it is not notifiable in a compulsory and clear format. That is what he is trying to do. He is trying to cover up the mistake he has made in the past.
Whatever you might say about the present debate, if we assume, for the moment, that the Government is correct in saying that there should be only coded notification, the Minister at least should be honest enough to come to this Assembly and admit that what he told the people of the ACT before was wrong.
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