Page 896 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989

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In 1972, I personally refused to continue the instructions from the then Attorney-General, Mr Murphy, to continue a series of raids and gross intrusions on personal liberties and civil liberties in this country. The fact of the matter is that we are increasing, through the efforts of individuals who want to stand up for civil liberties - - -

Mr Berry: Was that when you were in ASIO?

MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation in relation to that interjection. I have never been a member of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. The fact of the matter is that, when individuals come forward in relation to civil rights, the right to shop freely without having to be tripped up and abused by drunks, that is a civil liberty, to be equally protected as the right of unionists to gather outside this Assembly and throw their hard hats at anyone whose speech they do not like.

Mr Speaker, the fundamentals in society are that there must be, at some stage, some compromise between differing factions and this is one such compromise.

Debate (on motion by Mrs Nolan) adjourned.

PESTICIDES BILL 1989

Debate resumed from 29 June 1989, on motion by Mrs Grassby:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MR HUMPHRIES (8.43): Mr Speaker, we come now to talk about pests, and I for the time being am the Liberal Party's expert on pests, but I think that all of us in the Assembly have some expertise in this area.

Mr Speaker, the Liberals do not oppose this legislation, the Pesticides Bill. It is quite an important piece of legislation. I think it is timely and appropriate that it now comes before this place, given the emphasis we have put on environmental matters in recent weeks and the importance that it embodies for having a comprehensive and detailed structure in the ACT to prevent the random use of pesticides which are dangerous.

We welcome the general aims of the Bill; that is, to generally regulate the potentially dangerous chemicals of the Territory. We have a number of concerns, however, Mr Speaker, and as a consequence I foreshadow that I will be moving a number of amendments during the detail stage of this Bill.

The Bill sets up a register of pesticides and makes it an offence to sell, supply, use, transport, process or dispose


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