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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 131 ..

Mr Berry: Everybody else has to wait until after question time.

MR SPEAKER: No, they do not.

MR OSBORNE: I just feel that as chair of the Justice Committee I need to give our side of the story in relation to the retelling by Mr Humphries. My recollection, Mr Speaker, is that Mr Humphries wrote to our committee, and he did have a conversation with me privately, indicating the sensitivity surrounding this issue. I feel that all members of the Justice Committee handled it quite well. We had a discussion and I said that as far as I was concerned Mr Humphries' concern with it was that he did not want to have, from memory, a political fight over the issue. I said, "The best way to do that would be if you discussed the issue with the Labor Party". Mr Hargreaves then took it up with Mr Stanhope, and the Justice Committee heard nothing more from the Minister until we received a letter.

Mr Hargreaves did inform us that Mr Stanhope and Mr Humphries were speaking. The Justice Committee did not hear back from the Minister what the outcome was until we received a letter just before Christmas or perhaps just after - - -

Mr Hargreaves: Months later.

MR OSBORNE: Months later, with the Minister complaining that we had not responded. I felt that we had taken it as far as we could. I am a little bit disappointed that the inference seems to be that the Justice Committee did not do their job in relation to this. I do apologise for interrupting question time, Mr Speaker. He did not say it, but that is the implication I have come away with.

MR SPEAKER: That is all right.

MR KAINE: There is nothing like a full, comprehensive explanation. It is wonderful. Mr Speaker, my question, through you, is to the Chief Minister. A spokeswoman for the Minister for Health, Mr Moore, was quoted in the Canberra Times of 24 January as saying that his amendment Bill to enable a heroin self-injecting room to be established in Canberra had been "put on the backburner but it is definitely not off the agenda". So far so good. I was rather intrigued by this statement because a few days before, in the Canberra Chronicle on 19 January, Mr Moore himself was quoted as saying that his Bill had not been withdrawn and that "injecting rooms remained on the Carnell Government's agenda". Chief Minister, is the Minister for Health correct in saying that the establishment of a heroin self-injecting room in Canberra is, as he claims, part of the Carnell Liberal Government's agenda? Is it in accord with the policies of the ACT division of the Liberal Party or is this just a case of the shaggy tail wagging the brown dog?

MS CARNELL: I hand the question to my Minister.

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