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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Thursday, 1 April 2004) . . Page.. 1567 ..

is necessary to ensure the viability of the embryo and has normally been completed by the end of the second week. That is why, for instance, ART guidelines require that embryos must be implanted, stored or allowed to succumb before the 14th day of development. Quite independently of the question of the ethical status of the embryo, there are good grounds for the provisions that ban developing an embryo outside a woman’s body for more than 14 days.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the Democrats’ longstanding interest in these crucial questions and the work that has been done already on these issues. Whether it is the patenting of genes and gene sequences, the issue of genetic privacy or ensuring that we cannot be discriminated against on the basis of our genetic makeup, these are all issues that have been debated in many other parliaments around the world. It is important that we put our views on these matters on the record. The ACT Democrats will be wholeheartedly supporting the legislation before us.

MR STEFANIAK (8.15): My colleague Mr Smyth asked me to mention one point. I am very supportive of this bill as well. When thinking about it the other day I recalled a dreadful film I saw entitled The Boys From Brazil. That was all about human cloning, trying to get another Adolf Hitler. The hero of the film just managed to survive, in the end, and it did not work. That sort of thing shows just how scary the whole idea of human cloning can be and I am very much against it.

The point Mr Smyth has a concern with, which I am looking at here, is that the minister has to review the operation of this act as soon as practical after the second anniversary. In other words, the act will only be here for two years and other things can happen after that. I share his concern that that may not be long enough because it leaves open the prospect of human cloning not all that far down the track. I think that for a number of the reasons other speakers have mentioned tonight, including my colleague Mr Smyth, that could be quite a worrying thought. I think that this bill, which has been passed largely throughout the rest of Australia and, I am pleased to see, many other countries in the world is very sensible. I think most people are very scared—and rightly so—in relation to issues around human cloning.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (8.17), in reply: I thank members for their support of this important piece of legislation. It is a piece of legislation which has come about as a result of the Council of Australian Governments meeting on 5 April 2002, which agreed that all states and territories would legislate to ban human cloning and unacceptable practices associated with reproductive technology and to regulate the use of human embryos for research under strict criteria to be administered by the National Health and Medical Research Council. As members have noted, in a number of jurisdictions now—certainly in the Commonwealth—a single bill was introduced for debate and subsequently split and passed as two separate acts. The ACT government has recognised that these are complex issues that involve strong philosophical and moral, as much as scientific, assessment. For that reason we have been very happy to split these bills so they can be debated separately.

The Human Cloning (Prohibition) Bill 2004 aims to ban human cloning and other unacceptable practices associated with reproductive technology. The bill seeks to maintain fidelity to the principles agreed to at the COAG meeting. The ACT

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