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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2775 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Naltrexone will be tested as a relapse prevention treatment for users who have withdrawn from either methadone or heroin use. The buprenorphine and naltrexone trials in the ACT will involve 15 users in Canberra and 35 users in Melbourne initially, rising to 50 in the ACT and 150 in Melbourne next year. It is important that we develop these alternative treatment options. Clearly, we need to do more to attract users into treatment, rather than simply turning our backs on a problem or putting it into the too hard basket, as it seems Mr Berry wants to do.

As I said before, the ACT Government now has no choice but to discontinue its work on the heroin trial. I have always said that the trial could not proceed without the support of the majority of jurisdictions as well as Commonwealth support, particularly Commonwealth financial support. (Extension of time granted) I must say it is extremely disappointing that the Commonwealth withdrew its support for the trial just two weeks after supporting it at a meeting of the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. One must question the Commonwealth's commitment to this and other ministerial councils. The heroin trial is over but problems arising from and associated with illicit drug use remain as the single biggest public health problem facing Australia today.

The ACT Government will not turn our backs on people who desperately need our assistance. As a government, I think we have shown that we are willing to take the hard approach here. We are willing to look at options that may not be easy to sell in the community, but options that just might work for some people. The reason that this Assembly has been, I think, fairly successful in social policy reform over the years since self-government has been that up until now we have not played politics on these sorts of issues. Up until now we have seen oppositions, certainly when we were in opposition, willing to support pretty hard issues, pretty difficult issues, in the area of social change.

Mr Berry: Rubbish! You were the most adversarial and sneaky person we have ever had in the place.

MRS CARNELL: I ask for that to be withdrawn, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Berry: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I said she was the most adversarial and sneaky person we have ever had in the place.

MRS CARNELL: I ask for that to be withdrawn, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I ask that the word "sneaky" be withdrawn.

Mr Berry: Sneaky. Okay.

Ms McRae: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, may I take this opportunity to take a point of order? If Mr Berry had called Mrs Carnell a harlot at this point, I think you would have asked him to withdraw that as well. I sincerely ask you, as a point of order, to reconsider the allowance of the word "harlot" against Mr Berry, on the ground that you now have asked Mr - - -

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