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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2813 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

We would agree. Economic development and jobs are the two major issues in the Assembly, Mr Speaker. Here we have a situation which will produce, if anything, the loss of a business and certainly, in the absolutely best scenario, not one new job and not one new business. I come back to the issue again. Under this amendment, Mr Speaker, those opposite are going to have to lobby their Labor colleagues in New South Wales very hard on this, because I cannot see why the Premier of New South Wales would happily sign a document that ensured that some New South Wales businesses could not sell their product in the ACT.

MR MOORE (12.28): I will be very brief, Mr Speaker. It seems to me that, if I had had the same attitude as Mrs Carnell has, when I originally proposed the heroin trial in 1991, it would never have got to the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. In fact, the approach that is taken by Mr Corbell in some ways is quite similar. It says, "Yes, we are going to have to have recognition from across Australia". That is the first point of the argument. The second point is that Mrs Carnell says, "Why would they do it?". The reason they just might is not to do with the economic argument. There is more to this than just an economic argument. The reason that they just might is that they will look and say, "Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens in terms of battery farms and in terms of egg production. It will be interesting to see how the people of the ACT deal with this, if indeed they have any sympathy for the issue of how animals are treated".

As dry economic rationalists, as many of us like to be in many ways, most of us and most politicians I have met and discussed such issues with do actually have a heart - I know that some people find trouble in believing that - and are interested in looking at issues beyond just hard economic issues. So there is a chance. Indeed, the Chief Minister may be right. The Ministers may dismiss this in a very perfunctory way the first time around. They may even do it the second time around. But who knows? Within the set period, we may well change. In the meantime, the legislation, if passed, has established that a legislature is prepared to make this move.

Debate interrupted.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

MR BERRY: My question is to Mr Humphries, the Minister for Police and Emergency Services.

Mrs Carnell: You have given up on me already.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

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