Page 1230 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 1993
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If the Minister had done his homework he would have been able to answer that question in a flash, but he could not. The Minister waffled for five minutes, he went backwards and forwards and he attacked the Liberals, as he usually does; but he failed to provide the answer that he should have been able to give to satisfy this Assembly that there is some basis for this legislation.
It would have been very simple to say, Minister - had you known - that there are X number of people who are injured in the course of a year or five years or 10 years, whatever period you like to name, in this particular sport. But he could not do that, and the answer is either that he did not know and could not be bothered finding out - - -
Mr Berry: Everybody.
MR HUMPHRIES: It is no more true to say that everybody is injured in a boxing match, a game of rugby league or a vigorous game of tennis than it is to say that everybody is injured in a kick boxing contest. Where is your evidence?
Mr Berry: The blood comes out the nose, the lips get fat and your head rings. I know; I have been there.
MR HUMPHRIES: In every match? In every contest, Minister? Blood comes out the nose every time; is that the case? He does not know. He has not got a clue. If there are cases of injury resulting from kick boxing you should be able to tell this Assembly what they are, and you cannot. You are derelict in your duty. You are coming to this place expecting us to ban an activity in the ACT, and you cannot tell us why. That, in my view, is an indicator of failure, Minister. You have failed if you expect us to take up legislation on that basis.
Madam Speaker, I suggest that this legislation is worth supporting, except for that part of the Bill which refers to kick boxing, which I think this Assembly should resoundingly reject.
MS SZUTY (8.15): I support Mr Humphries's position. I think that the Boxing Control Bill has a lot to recommend it. However, the problem with the Bill, as I see it, is the kick boxing ban. As I understand it, the enacting of this legislation is necessary because, as far back as the 1970s and the 1980s, attempts to develop a national uniform code for the sport of boxing had failed. Madam Speaker, I wish to congratulate the Government and the Minister in this instance on the Minister's initiative to regulate the sport of boxing in the ACT. This Bill not only seeks to bring the ACT into line with practices interstate but also uses very efficiently the Boxing Authority of New South Wales to register competitive boxers and ensure that their welfare is looked after. The Bill also very sensibly prescribes codes of practice for the conduct of the sport of boxing.
The Bill epitomises the benefits of cooperation, whilst allowing for differences in local needs. For example, in New South Wales women are not allowed to participate in any form of boxing competition. Under the ACT's proposed Act, women will not be discriminated against, although the system of gaining approval to take part in a boxing competition is more complex for women than for men.
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