Page 1601 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
acceptable, to our community. What we will be looking for in this committee is to see whether we can find a solution and to look at the link between prostitution, AIDS and drugs. I think it is absolutely critical that this Assembly take this responsibility, which is probably relatively unpopular from a political point of view. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility to do what we can to avoid this epidemic.
MR WOOD (11.22): Mr Speaker, I support the establishment of this committee, and I anticipate long and hard work as we consider the issues and eventually come up with recommendations to bring back to this Assembly. I have valued my experiences on the committees. They have provided me with a great deal of education and information about this community and about the issues that confront us. I have in all circumstances enjoyed what the committees have done. I might add that that even includes walking with Mr Moore and Ms Maher across rubbish tips and into some rather strange places as we have looked at recycling. It has been a valuable experience. I accept the commitment to work on this committee. However, I do not expect to enjoy it; I think it will be a sad experience.
The presence of AIDS in the world has changed every view that we may have on a number of crucial issues, in particular the drugs and prostitution ones that Mr Moore has mentioned. The catastrophic effect of AIDS is such that we must review our attitudes and our controls over such matters. We must assume that we are still in the very early days in our fight to control AIDS.
If we can draw a line a metre long, we have not covered a millimetre in coming to understand that disease and to control it. We must assume that and, that being the case, think how much greater the damage is that can be done because of this disease. It is such a dreadful and still a totally uncontrollable disease that we must look to every measure possible to control it.
This was the message that the community received two to three years ago when the Federal Government, along with governments in other parts of the world, took very dramatic measures to bring to the notice of communities the threat from AIDS, and there was some adverse comment about the very dramatic television commercials that displayed the great problem.
The community was made aware of, and I believe was greatly alarmed about, the AIDS epidemic and reacted accordingly. Many in the community changed their attitudes and their behaviour accordingly. I believe that as time goes by the term "AIDS" will become one with which we will have some familiarity. I think that the urgency of the matter has now been diminished, and this is most unfortunate. We must never forget how critical the problem is, and the mere fact that it has been present for some time should not allow our anxiety in any way to be diminished.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .