Page 3165 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 20 September 1994
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Mr Moore: Will it please ASH?
MR BERRY: No, it will not please ASH, because this locks in the consumption of tobacco, by your admission, in 10 per cent of all premises. There we have it. It is a situation where, if Mr Moore has his way, this Assembly will set a standard which will be adopted by the whole of the country and which will lock in tobacco consumption in a percentage of premises across the country and will be marketed around the world. I would say that they have already grabbed it and would be waving this report around and saying, as I said earlier, "Our Sir Walter Raleigh award goes to Michael Moore and Mrs Carnell. They get the cloak; they get the belt and all the awards for doing this for us. This guarantees us a market for the future". That is all they are interested in.
For my part, I am interested in making a move towards something that means something in terms of public health. Of course, it means taking the community with you. You take the workplaces, in clubs and pubs and restaurants, with you as well, in accordance with the code of practice which has been introduced by my colleague. You do not end up locking in that area where tobacco can be consumed; you do not end up with a situation where the culture of tobacco consumption is endorsed. What the Government has set out to do is assist in reducing the effect of that culture on the public health of our community. I am confident that those experts around the country who believe in this issue think this is the way forward. It is about establishing a culture. You have to involve workers in the workplace; you have to involve clubs which are owned by their members; you have to involve the hotel industry in the process.
The occupational health and safety course was the way to go. The Occupational Health and Safety Council was, of course, widely consulted, and that might explain to you, Mr Moore, why you did not get the code. It had to be dealt with by the council first. The council, of course, is a tripartite body.
Mr Moore: Rubbish! You held onto it. The draft was available, and you would not give it to us.
MR BERRY: It was given to my colleague Mr Lamont. It was a tripartite body involving government, industry and the unions, and I was not going to short-circuit that process. You had already made up your mind that you were going to lock in tobacco consumption in these places, before the committee started. Stop trying to kid us. And so did Mrs Carnell.
Mr Moore: On a point of order, Madam Speaker: That is definitely an imputation of improper motives. If I had done that, I would not have gone through the process of the committee. I think Mr Berry should withdraw that.
MADAM SPEAKER: I would ask you to withdraw that, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: Mr Moore had said, prior to the committee's report, that he believed in this approach, and it was ironic that the committee came out and endorsed it.
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