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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2844 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present information bulletins relating to patient activity data for the Calvary Public Hospital and the Canberra Hospital for May and June 1997.

I also present, pursuant to standing order 83A, an out-of-order petition, lodged by Mr Hird, from 30 citizens, relating to the sale and use of fireworks.

[COGNATE BILL:

Clause 2

Debate resumed.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (4.00): Mr Speaker, Mr Corbell has moved his amendment No. 1 and Mr Moore has responded to it. I want to emphasise again, as I said in the in-principle debate on this Bill, that the amendment appears to cleverly defer any action on this matter until some point in the future - some six years after the Mutual Recognition Act, Schedule 2, is amended. It is a long way away, far enough away not to cause any concern about jobs; but it shows to the animal welfare community that there is some real action being taken here, that we are serious about this important issue and that we will stand up for the rights of animals. If this were an argument about the rights of animals, Mr Speaker, I would feel a little bit more sanguine about this; but I want to emphasise to members of the Assembly what a nonsense step this really is.

As the Chief Minister has made very clear, Schedule 2 to the Mutual Recognition Act of the Commonwealth is unlikely to be amended by other States. All States and Territories and the Commonwealth need to agree for the legislation to be amended in that way. So, somehow we have to believe that this is a possibility. In some way, we have to believe that New South Wales is going to agree voluntarily that, whereas eggs produced in the ACT under this new arrangement can be freely exported to New South Wales, battery eggs produced in unenlightened New South Wales cannot be imported into the ACT. The question needs to be asked: Why would New South Wales agree to that? It is very hard to see why they would.

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