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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2766 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, the situation is plainly this: The Labor Party has called upon the Government to do more in relation to rehabilitation and it has called upon the Government to do more in relation to education. I have been critical of both Mr Moore and the Government in relation to the constant debate about the heroin trial and those sorts of things without sufficient emphasis being placed on other matters. Our position is clear in relation to a heroin trial. I made it clear from the outset. I was the first to raise it at the national level. Our position remains thus. When the opportunity emerges again we will take up the issue again, but the door has been closed.

Mr Moore: Temporarily.

MR BERRY: The door has been closed temporarily by Prime Minister Howard. That could change. Mrs Carnell today made her first ministerial statement on the drugs strategy in the ACT since she came to office.

Mrs Carnell: Because it is a two-year strategy.

MR BERRY: It is the first ministerial statement on the drug strategy that you have made since you came to office. I feel, in part, responsible for that. I feel that, in part, if I can use some provocative language, I flushed you out. I trust that we will have more than words on the matter. I intend to keep raising this issue in the context of more work being required, but there are other issues out there in the community that the community wants us to deal with. If you ask many people out there about the drug problem in the ACT they will tell you that the most prominent issue is the heroin trial. There are good reasons for the heroin trial to be debated, but most - - -

Mrs Carnell: Because it is the area of difference.

MR BERRY: Not between you and me.

Mrs Carnell: No, between us and other States.

MR BERRY: They have had weekly doses of heroin trial and they have just about had enough of it. They want to get back to some of the other core issues. Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I welcome the Minister's speech. I note what Mr Moore has said. I hope that we stop thrashing around about this issue, recognise that the door is closed for the foreseeable future and get on with the job of dealing with, particularly, illicit drug use in the ACT. I think the ACT strategy in relation to tobacco has been generally good, although I have been critical of the moves by the Government and Mr Moore in respect of this on a couple of occasions. I will not say too much more about that because of the risk of flushing out the - - -

Mrs Carnell: That is why we get the Australia first prize.

MR BERRY: You could have been A+ - at the risk of provoking an angry reaction. The situation is clear. More work is required in the ACT, not words, and, yes, the heroin trial was a priority. The door has been shut. We will have to wait for a future opportunity.

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