Page 205 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 23 February 1994
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Mr Cornwell: And in come the smoke police.
MR DE DOMENICO: And in come the smoke police. It will be a $500 fine for me for smoking tobacco. Guess how much Samir Harmouche at the Hyatt is going to be fined. He will be fined $5,000 for a tobacco cigarette. There will be a $5,000 fine for the owner of the premises.
Mr Connolly: How much is he going to be fined if he sells cigarettes to a minor?
MR DE DOMENICO: It is $5,000 if I am caught smoking tobacco. I have not bought my cigarettes there. I will take on board that interjection from the eminent Attorney-General. I might not even have bought my tobacco cigarette on Mr Harmouche's premises, Mr Connolly. However, I buy cigarettes legally. If you really want to ban smoking, let us ban the whole lot.
Mr Berry: We are not banning smoking.
MR DE DOMENICO: You are. You are banning smoking. "We are not going to ban smoking", he is saying. Of course you are. You are going to ban smoking in restaurants, are you not?
Mrs Carnell: And in bars.
MR DE DOMENICO: And in the bars, but not in clubs - maybe not in clubs - and not in the casino. Passive smoking in casinos is all right for your health; passive smoking in restaurants is not. That is what Mr Berry's Bill says, for heaven's sake. Mr Berry, you are wrong again. Madam Speaker, there is no phase-in period unless the Minister so chooses. There is definitely too much power for the Minister in this legislation. There is excessive ministerial discretion.
Someone in this Government has said, "The most important issue that I am going to deal with is jobs. I am concerned about jobs, particularly for young people". Mr Berry had the opportunity of bringing the whole of the industry and the whole of this Assembly along with him on this issue. He chose not to. He chose this adversarial way of doing things. But had he taken the opportunity of consulting the community he would have known that industry in the ACT - the tourism industry, in particular - employs a lot of young people. What the industry would have said to Mr Berry, and what I am sure the industry did say to Mr Berry, is, "Please give us a chance to get our act together. We need some time to make plans". Business operates that way. You need some lead time. The industry would have said, "Then we will take whatever - - -
Debate interrupted.
ADJOURNMENT
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! It being 4.30 pm, I propose the question:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr Berry: I require the question to be put forthwith without debate.
Question resolved in the negative.
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