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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (21 May) . . Page.. 1572 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

I say again to Ms Horodny that it is not about maintaining high standards or not being compassionate about hens; it is about accepting that it is better to work within a national framework for these things than to work outside that framework.

Ms Horodny: Not if it is a poor code. That is why we are here - to change things, to improve things. If we just stick with what is already in existence, why are we here?

MR HUMPHRIES: I do not believe that it is a poor code. I think it is a sustainable code and a code which reflects practices around the county. We should work towards change around the country if we wish to see change that is positive in the way that Ms Horodny has suggested.

Ms Horodny: It has to start in our own backyard.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, it cannot start in our own backyard; it cannot start by our having a different standard. If we have a different standard, we destroy the purpose of a great deal of work that has gone on for at least the last five years in Australian governments to reduce the differences between operations in different jurisdictions on matters of regulation. Battery hen codes like this are a form of regulation. If you change the mechanism for regulation so that it is different from that in New South Wales, you create barriers between the two jurisdictions.

Ms Horodny: No, you do not.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, that is the fact of life. You create barriers between the two jurisdictions and people then have to choose between jurisdictions in terms of where they operate and how they operate. I maintain that it is better for us to continue the process of removing those barriers where it is appropriate to remove them. This is one such case. Our policy, as has been the policy of governments for at least the last five years, will be to maintain national standards within the ACT.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Motion (by Mr Humphries) agreed to:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

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