Page 4319 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 7 December 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
We could spend a large amount of time running through the various areas that are not quite as they should be. One of those areas, and I understand that it is going to be sorted out, is that unfortunately there is a spelling problem in these Bills. I hope that by the end of this evening I will have assurance that the various members of the legislative drafting group realise that you spell "practice" as a noun with a "c" and not with an "s".
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (8.13), in reply: You would never detect from that contribution that the Opposition supports the Government in the passage of these Bills. If you have a look at the various Bills, and I am sure you have - - -
Ms Follett: This is the non-adversarial mode.
MR BERRY: Yes, the non-adversarial mode. Mrs Carnell, being such a knowledgeable person on the matter of boards - - -
Mr Cornwell: I am glad that you acknowledge that.
MR BERRY: She says that she is a knowledgeable person on the issue of boards which relate to the various health professionals, but if she had taken the time to have a look at the legislation and the powers and duties of those various boards she would be able to discern from a one-off examination that none of them say, "Consult with the Opposition". They are boards which regulate the performance of the various professions within the ACT. They are regulatory boards which are responsible, in this case, to me. When I consult, I expect to get a response from the boards in relation to individual boards.
Mrs Carnell has not yet got over the fact that she was once a board member. You have to make up your mind what you want to be involved in. Do you want to be involved in politics or do you want to be a pharmacist? It does not seem as though you are able to make up your mind. You have not made up your mind yet. If you want to be on the Pharmacy Board, hand it back to Trevor. Where has he gone? I am sure that he will take it on the full with both hands. You should hand it back to Trevor and let the politician have a go. If Mrs Carnell wants to be on the Pharmacy Board and get involved in the processes of the Pharmacy Board and be busy out there selling aspirin, getting the mortar and the pestle out, banging together a few of those very important chemicals which make our lives much easier, she ought to do that. But she cannot continue to whinge about the obligation of the boards to regulate the various professions but to be, at the end of the day, responsible to the government of the day in some respects as well.
One of those responsibilities is to advise the Government on particular parts of legislation which the boards have an interest in. This nonsense that Mrs Carnell spouts about intercepting mail might be something the Liberals would want to do. You have to understand that they are matters of concern to the Government. As Leader of the Opposition she has no special access to any boards, unless she wants to lay a complaint about some members of the profession with which those boards might be concerned. She cannot get over the past.
Mr De Domenico: This is Labor's version of open, consultative government.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .