Page 1812 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 15 June 1993
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Mr Wood: I am dead by then, Ellnor.
MRS GRASSBY: Bill tells me that he goes home a lot earlier than that.
Mr Wood: I am a bit older than you.
MRS GRASSBY: Fair enough, Bill; I can understand that.
Mr Cornwell: Is that am or pm, Ellnor?
MRS GRASSBY: I know that you never go home. I have been to the casino with you; you never go home. I think that was one of the best recommendations, and we should be looking at it. I suggest to the Chief Minister that they look into that area, as this is part of the problem.
I was not really convinced on pubcard. All it does is look after the people who serve alcohol, the owners of the nightclubs, the owners of the supermarkets, the owners of the liquor outlets. It makes it easier for them, so that they will not be prosecuted, and I do not think it takes care of the problem. If it is brought in, it will be just another card. I am not sure that it cannot be beaten. I am not sure that there is not a way around it. The youth of today have a lot of ability, and I am sure that they will find some way of getting around a pubcard. They did virtually tell us that at the schools. They thought that if there was a system they could beat it. They will just find this another one to beat. I cannot really see the advantage of going into that.
I would like to see this Government looking at spending more money in the education field. It will cost money to produce a pubcard. I know that we talked about charging for it, but we would not be able to charge enough, I do not think. We should be looking at putting that money into teaching children more about life, about their bodies and so on.
I, too, thank the members of the committee, particularly Michael Moore, who has been the chairman of the two drugs committees. I have been a member of both, and they were most enjoyable. Whatever Michael does, he does with enjoyment. Kate Carnell was a new member to the committee, and I quite enjoyed working with Kate. We disagreed on certain things, but we did it in the nicest of ways. Ron Owens did a very good job on the committee, and I know that he enjoyed being on it. I think he was sorry to see the committee come to an end, but all good things have to come to an end. I understand that Michael will be carrying on a lot of his work in this field, and I am sure that we will be hearing about it from time to time in this house.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (8.26): It is with great pleasure that I stand to address the final report of the Select Committee on Drugs entitled Alcohol and Youth. One of the things the committee came to grips with while putting this report together was the magnitude of the problem. It is very easy to say that all young people drink and they will get over it. Once we started to have a look at the problem, we realised that there is responsibility for government in this area. The statistics show that 35 per cent of boys and 20 per cent of girls under 18 drink at least weekly. Of those, 25 per cent will have more than five drinks in any drinking day - those are the ones they actually own up to.
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