Page 540 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 1990
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conduct medical examinations? Secondly, does he consider such behaviour is appropriate for a Minister of the Crown?
MR HUMPHRIES: I thank the member for her question. I must confess that yesterday I presented myself as a doctor and conducted medical examinations. As part of the Canberra Festival, the Department of Health ran an annual teddy bears health clinic. I joined a team of departmental officers and friends in manning that clinic.
Mr Duby: Did you go down to the woods?
MR HUMPHRIES: I did, and I bore the falling branches of that. I must admit that I took a turn on the reception desk, I presented myself as a doctor, and I examined teddy bears.
Mrs Grassby: Did you use the same syringe all the time?
MR HUMPHRIES: I did. In answer to Mrs Grassby's question, I have to confess that I used the same syringe on more than one occasion, but she should understand that the special serum used for teddy bears is self-sterilising and therefore does not require the renewal of separate needles. I point out that the clinic is a very important part of the process of accustoming children to the process of immunisation, to help them to understand that immunisation is an important part of the health program that they should undertake as youngsters. It helps them to understand that it is not a painful or traumatic experience.
Assembly Precincts
MR SPEAKER: On Thursday, 22 February 1990, Mr Berry asked me, in a question without notice, to describe the Assembly precincts. The question of what the Assembly precincts are is not one which the Speaker should determine. Rather, it is up to the Assembly as a whole to define what the precincts are. Nevertheless, as Speaker, I have had to give a general outline of the Assembly precincts to the police for the purposes of affording security during demonstrations that have occurred in and around the Assembly building.
Following consultations with appropriate officials, the consensus view was that the precincts should comprise all of the ground and first floors of the building, certain areas of the fifth floor which are allocated to Executive Deputies, the upper level of the basement carpark, and sufficient of the public street level external to the building as would provide for clear passage to and from the building's entrances and exits. I am also administratively responsible for the area occupied by the press on the third floor.
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