Page 4119 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 24 November 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Unfortunately, that agreement did not last terribly long, and in June or July this year that decision was revisited by the Health Ministers conference and a new agreement was brought down. That new agreement came down after this Bill was tabled in the Assembly. As it currently stands, the Bill in front of us does not mirror at all the agreement of the Health Ministers. The Liberal Party support an approach that will give consumers appropriate warnings about tobacco products so that, hopefully, they can make well-educated decisions on whether they should consume the product at all.
It is also very important to ensure that whatever legislation we have in the ACT in this area is consistent with that in New South Wales and in other parts of Australia. Mutual recognition will mean that product labelling that is legal in one State will be very hard to exclude from another State. Therefore, it is important that all States have similar legislation. I am not at all impressed with the stance of my Victorian colleagues. They have chosen to take a different approach, and I think it is very unfortunate that that has been the case. I understand that, because of that, the Federal Government is going to move under the Trade Practices Act to ensure that there is a Federal approach to this important issue, and I applaud that. Again, that does make this Bill somewhat redundant if the Federal Government is going to move, but I understand that there is some need for a few States to move along this line to set some standards, and we support that approach.
It is unfortunate that quite substantial changes to this Bill were presented to us only a very short time ago. It is absolutely essential that these amendments we pass today be in line with national standards. It is very difficult for this side of the house to ensure that that is the case, having got the amendments only an hour ago. I do not think that is an appropriate approach. As the Minister knows, I wrote to him last week because I was concerned that this piece of legislation did not mirror the Health Ministers conference decision on this matter. I got a reply from the Minister yesterday. Again, it makes the timeframes very difficult for this side of the house.
Because I was concerned about this issue, I have in front of me what the New South Wales Government is going to do, but that is as much by good luck as by good management, I have to admit. I am therefore in a position to check whether these amendments are in line with the national standard. They are. So I have been willing to go ahead and handle this piece of legislation today.
Mr Berry: What did you muck about for, then? What could you say? "I have checked it".
MRS CARNELL: It is only because I have just got it here in front of me. I have just finished checking it, at this moment. As I said, we are happy to handle this piece of legislation today because it is important. It will greatly improve the health of Australians, I hope, and it is important that some States take the lead in this area. It is also one of the few issues on which the Health Minister and I agree totally. It is important that people who smoke cigarettes in Australia realise the dangers to their health. I cannot say that we support this Bill, because the amendments have not been introduced, but we certainly support this approach.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .