Page 738 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 5 July 1989
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of this morning's debate on this matter it is the fact that it is not just a legal issue, a criminal issue; it is a broad social issue which has a lot of root causes. I am very, very encouraged that the Social Policy Committee will be given the opportunity to examine all matters relating to this social problem.
Accordingly, I note the matters that Mr Collaery has raised in regard to paragraph (2), and I agree there may be a possibility there of overlap between that and the select committee that has been set up this morning. Nevertheless, I think it is absolutely vital that these matters be addressed by the Social Policy Committee, and I look forward to its report.
DR KINLOCH (4.36): I follow Mr Duby in many ways. I think the Social Policy Committee must have a broad area at which to look, not a very tiny, specific area. I mentioned earlier today I do not think this is a question of looking at bus interchanges; it is a question of looking at underlying problems. I think those are the kinds of issues at which I would be wanting to look. I would not want to duplicate the activities of another committee. This is why I have my worries about paragraph (2).
I would say, on behalf of Mr Wood, Mr Stevenson, Mrs Nolan and myself that we are not making distress noises necessarily but that we are very, very much in the middle of a major investigation of problems of the aged, and we have scheduled many things through July and August. I note that as a problem, but I quite recognise that the general questions of the public mood - problems of social justice in relation to public behaviour - are legitimate areas. Would it be possible, I wonder, to omit paragraph (2)?
MR MOORE (4.37): I rise to my feet to congratulate the Chief Minister on putting this motion. What came out of this morning's debate more than anything else was that there is a problem and that there are two possible solutions - a long-term one and a short-term one. The immediate solution has been proposed by Mr Stefaniak, and that was the motion that went through this morning. Here the Chief Minister has recognised where the problem is and has moved in order to assess the problem and to see whether this committee can come up with a solution. I believe that we should congratulate her on that. It will give me personally great pleasure to support this motion.
MR BERRY (Minister for Community Services and Health) (4.38): I congratulate the Residents Rally, for the first time, today, for its support for this motion. I think, Mr Speaker, that at the end of the debate on this issue members of this Assembly will come to the conclusion that what is really complained about is a genuine social issue and is appropriately placed with this committee. I think it is important to dwell on the issue of the information that gave rise to this morning's debate and, of course, the debate over this motion, and that is what the Chief
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