Page 3294 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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Mr Moore: Okay.
MADAM SPEAKER: That is why, Mr Moore. We have a perfectly good provision.
Motion (by Mr Berry) agreed to:
That the time allotted to Assembly business be extended by 30 minutes.
MR MOORE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was drawing my speech to a close anyway. Really, the critical thing is that the Assembly has accepted this report. I think we now have a situation which goes much further than the original legislation. I think it is appropriate for us to recognise the contribution that Mr Berry made in introducing this legislation and taking on this issue of environmental tobacco smoke in areas of recreation, and the extension that the Assembly has put on that. In the end I believe that we have come up with a very sensible decision. Apart from the politicking, it is appropriate that the former Minister be given credit for bringing that issue on, and the Assembly be given credit for dealing with it appropriately as well.
MR HUMPHRIES (11.24): Madam Speaker, whatever you might say about the legislation that has been passed by the Assembly as a result of this report being tabled in the Assembly, I think even Mr Berry would have to acknowledge that it represents the most advanced legislation on smoking in the whole of Australia, and by a very wide margin. If Mr Berry is concerned about not leading the country he need have no fears, because we certainly led the country with this legislation. The other point is that, as a result of this report of the Assembly, we will lead not just in terms of restaurants where, with great respect, I think the battle is substantially won anyway; but we are also going to be leading in respect of clubs, bars and taverns. That was the crucial area of weakness in that legislation, from the Government's point of view, and it has been corrected. At least a solution has been found in that direction in what this committee recommended and what was picked up by the Assembly in the legislation that was passed. That is a matter of considerable pleasure to me and, I hope, to other members of the Assembly. Clearly, Mr Berry is concerned about his own prospects of re-election and he would like to generate an issue that will help him to overcome what would appear to be considerable shortcomings.
Mr Berry: I am not worried, Gary. I would be worried if I were you, though.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Berry is not worried. I am glad that he is feeling comfortable about it, because I certainly know, Madam Speaker, that I would not be if I were in his shoes. But that is fine; he wants to generate an issue. I think it is better, though, for him not to pick up an issue and try to mislead people generally in the community into imagining that we have adopted legislation which, in some way, as he put it, encourages people to smoke. This legislation is far-reaching and it does do a great deal to discourage people smoking in public places, particularly those important social public places where people go and where passive smoking represents a serious danger to their health.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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