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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (25 November) . . Page.. 2921 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Once upon a time all we had was information in packets. It was manufacturers' information. You could not be confident that it was balanced. Now we can be. CMI balances that information. It is approved by a third party. That is what Mr Moore's amendments will do. They will give us information approved by an independent group of people - a balanced, independent, full suite of information.

Mr Speaker, not all that long ago, in the last Assembly, I brought down the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Bill, which allowed patients access to their medical records. It was not embraced fully by the medical profession but was something I personally believed very strongly about. I believe information is power. This is not a new approach for me. Right from the beginning of this debate I said I had no problems with information. I have no problems with the 72-hour delay after information is given, because I think it takes that long to digest information. The Family Planning Clinic tells me quite categorically that the delay is longer than that now, so the Bill does not cause a problem to current practice.

At the end of this debate today we can be confident that women have a full suite of information giving the pros and cons. When they make this important decision in their lives, a decision for them personally, they will have in front of them information about keeping a baby, adopting a baby, guardianship, abortion, the services available and the support available. If a woman makes a decision based upon that information, then the Reproductive Health Services Clinic can come in and do the great job that they do. Anything that even slightly endangers them I would not be within a country mile of, but the amendments overcome that. I believe the amendments will improve the situation for women, will empower women, and from a medical perspective, like the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Bill and the requirement for consumer medication information, will take another step towards ensuring that consumers of our medical services are empowered where the balance in power is not in their favour. Doctors and medical services always have more power than the patient. That is never so real as when the patient is a woman, especially a young woman, having such a traumatic experience as a termination. Let us make sure that those women have just that fraction more empowerment.

Mr Berry: So they are forced to be.

MS CARNELL: There is no forcing at all. If somebody gets the package of information and chooses not to read it, that is their decision.

Mr Berry: They have to see the pictures.

MS CARNELL: They do not have to see anything. The information is there. If they want to look at it, if they want to read it, they can.

Mr Berry: It is there now.

MS CARNELL: If they want to read it, if they want to look at it, they can. If they do not, no problems either. But it is there if they want to read it. So is the information on not going ahead. There is great information from Reproductive Healthcare Services about going ahead. Let us empower women just that little bit more, Mr Speaker.

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