Page 925 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 30 March 1993
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MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (8.02), in reply: I must commend Mrs Carnell for probably the most positive contribution from an opposition member in a debate in this Assembly. It was very beneficial in its brevity.
Mr Cornwell: You are now going to spoil it, are you?
MR CONNOLLY: No. This Bill normally would have been debated at the same time as the Adoption Bill. It was presented at the same time as the Adoption Bill. It merely changes some references to the adoption law in other Acts. Until the Adoption Bill was passed we did not know whether other changes and a renumbering would be required, so we thought it best to bring this Bill on the week after the Adoption Bill.
Ms Szuty's point is well taken. While we have passed the Adoption Act, it has not yet commenced. It is the Government's intention, of course, to commence the two at the same time. Although we have not yet formally commenced the Adoption Act, we have commenced taking applications under it, so that the public are able to put their applications in. I thank members for their support.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - NATIONAL STRATEGY
Paper
Debate resumed from 25 November 1992, on motion by Ms Follett:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MS SZUTY (8.04): Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the issue of violence against women has not been allowed to fall off the national agenda with the passing of domestic violence legislation in the 1980s, and that there is a recognition at the national level of the depth of problems facing society as a whole in its treatment of women. Addressing the problem of violence is one of the cogs in the wheel of change that we as an Assembly have been working on in the passage of many of the Bills that have come before us, and indeed in the consideration of the report of the Community Law Reform Committee.
What is often espoused is the desire of legislators to see a more caring society where the needs of the varying members of the community are met. One of the most important challenges facing us as a community is the general issue of violence. Last year we had described examples of violence in Civic which the Attorney-General witnessed first-hand. Members voted to pass an amendment to the Crimes Act 1900 to ban fighting in public places, in an effort to control violent behaviour. We live in a society where violence appears to both fascinate and
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