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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 2568 ..

Mrs Dunne: The people who oppose in this place do not think that. That is a gross misstatement.

MR BERRY: Some are approaching me. I turn now to what Mr Pratt said. Mr Pratt tried to make the point that the criminal code was a good disincentive for women to seek an abortion. The figures do not assist us in that respect, but the criminal code is a threat to women who might choose an abortion. Women are constantly reminded of the criminal aspects of abortion by anti-abortion campaigners in the ACT, and this does nothing to further society in the ACT. What is it about people who want to denigrate women who choose to have an abortion?

Mr Cornwell made the point that we ought to have a national abortion referendum. This is a state issue, and it is a matter we have to deal with. It is one of our Assembly responsibilities. The Crimes Act is part of a suite of territory legislation which we are responsible for. You may recall, Mr Cornwell, that the Termination of Pregnancy Act, which was enacted by the federal parliament on the recommendation of the old House of Assembly was later repealed by this place because of concern about the availability of abortions in the ACT.

The last member I want to deal with is Mr Smyth. Mr Smyth made great play about the precautionary principle and how repealing these provisions might assist in the area of legal, safe and hopefully rare abortions. I do not expect that abortions will ever be rare, but I live in hope.

Mr Smyth: What are you going to do to make them rare?

MR BERRY: I am not going to wish them away, because I know wishing them away is not going to fix a thing. The first thing of concern for everybody in the community is that abortions be legal and safe. That has to be the priority. That is necessarily a protection for women who choose the procedure.

This is a campaign which has been going on since long before I entered politics and has had a growing weight of opinion in support of it. I thank all of those members who have participated in the debate this evening. I thank those who have offered their comments in opposition to the legislation for their contributions, even though I do not agree with them. I will continue to oppose them, and I will continually be vigilant to ensure that gains made in access to abortions are not taken back. I particularly thank those members who made a contribution in support of the bill. They have been put through a fairly harrowing experience, I expect, as a result of the long period this legislation has been before this place.

I promised before the election to do something about this. I told everybody in my electorate what I was going to do. I told everybody in Canberra what I was going to do, and I am proud to be here today as the proponent of this legislation.

But it would not be possible to be here today without the strong community support which has grown around this issue. It is a level of community support which will continue to remain in place to ensure that women have access to abortions well into the future. Without their help this bill could not have been debated today.

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