Page 3732 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 2011
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not in a position where we have any change to nationally consistent guidelines that basically duplicate the need for regulation.
There has been some delay in the COAG process. It was information that was due in July. But I note that it is only August, so it is not as though we are several years late. This is information that was due in July from COAG, and it is now August.
I note also that the bill that is being introduced by the Greens would commence in January 2013. I am not sure what the extraordinary rush is to have this debated today so that it can commence in 2013. I would have thought that allowing ourselves a space to do that would be appropriate. It is important that we make that point.
There are some discrepancies and differences with New South Wales regulations which I think were included by the Greens, in terms of service stations that are not included in New South Wales, and I think there are some implications from that that we need to consider also.
This is not about the Liberal Party necessarily having a philosophical objection to this. There are some concerns that we have. There are definitely some concerns that we have on the impact on small business. Because of that, we have got to be very mindful that we do adhere to nationally consistent regulations.
But I agree with the minister, and it is disappointing to me that the minister does not have the courage of her convictions to follow through on what she said in COAG, to follow through on what she said in the letter to Ms Bresnan, and to follow through on what she said in her speech today. Rather, instead of following through on her convictions and what she understands is the correct course of action, she is going to support this bill today because she is concerned, as I understand it—she has basically given the impression of that—that as the health minister she does not want to be seen to be not supporting this legislation. That is weak. If that is what Katy Gallagher stands by as her strong leadership, either as the health minister or the Chief Minister, that is disappointing.
For those reasons, we will not be supporting this legislation today. Although the intended legislation is supportable, the timing is wrong.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (11.35): I would like to add my support for the Food (Nutritional Information) Bill 2011. There are a number of reasons why this is a very positive initiative, and one area that I would particularly like to focus on is the impact on children and young people and their health of not having that information.
We know that the ACT Health Council has said that one of the biggest threats to our high life expectancy here in the ACT is obesity. And it is alarming to think that young Canberrans are, for the first time ever, likely to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Not only would this be an appalling outcome in itself, but what makes it even worse is that it is likely that they will experience more frequent and more serious health problems throughout their lives as a result of obesity.
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