Page 196 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 23 February 1994
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MR HUMPHRIES (3.55): The Assembly, I think it could be said, has notched up considerable achievements in the area of winding back the pernicious effect of tobacco smoking in our community in the five years or so since the Assembly came into existence. Just to mention a few of those achievements, the Health Promotion Fund was set up during the life of the first ACT Government - that fund was designed to provide alternative sources of funding from tobacco sponsorship - and the tobacco Act, a major piece of legislation, was passed during the period of the Alliance Government in 1990. That Act was at the time, and perhaps still is, the toughest piece of anti-smoking legislation that this country has seen. It contained, among other things, a ban on almost all advertising of tobacco products in the ACT and it raised the age at which people could purchase cigarettes legally to 18. I must say that I have some doubts as to whether that has been enforced very well since that time; nonetheless that was what the law we passed said. There also has been a ban on most sponsorship of tobacco products in the ACT, and the few exemptions which have occurred have been referred to by Mr Moore. Since that time we have had considerable debate with the New South Wales Rugby League about signage and so on at Bruce Stadium, to make sure that the anti-smoking message gets across loud and clear there. We, as an Assembly, as politicians in this place, have a great deal to be proud about when it comes to winding back the pernicious influence of tobacco.
All of those things, Mr Deputy Speaker, have been achieved with a high degree of consensus. We all perceive the need to attack the toll that tobacco takes on our community, particularly on young people. This Bill before us today, the Smoke-free Areas (Enclosed Public Places) Bill, has shattered that consensus, or, rather, the handling of the Bill has shattered that consensus. We have seen some features about this Bill which I think are very disturbing in light of the very strong degree of consensus and agreement we have achieved in the past. Accusations that people are in the pocket of tobacco companies have flown freely, both in this chamber and in the media. Those claims, Mr Deputy Speaker, are hysterical and they are not befitting the people on both sides of this chamber who have cooperated to provide a high degree of protection for the citizens of this Territory. We have achieved that high degree of protection and we are entitled to take some credit for that fact; but, no, not as far as the person making those claims is concerned. Why parties who are happy to ban advertising, to ban sponsorship by tobacco companies, to raise the legal age on smoking and to do a whole host of other things should now meekly decide to go along with tobacco companies and to believe that smoking is not really all that bad is a little bit hard to explain. Mr Berry has not been able to do so.
In fact, there has been no change of heart on this side of the chamber about tobacco smoking. We acknowledge and we support measures to wind back the influence of tobacco smoking, to give people the right to enjoy the air free from tobacco smoke; but we do not support legislation which is not going to work, legislation which is half-hearted and insincere, and legislation which deals with an area like restaurants where smoking is much less serious than in pubs and taverns - an action that Mr Berry well knows is, with respect, insincere. Madam Speaker, no-one wants to see young people take up this habit, and no-one wants to see the choice of non-smokers restricted in restaurants, bars, hotels and clubs.
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