Page 4563 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 6 December 1994
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MADAM SPEAKER: I have witnessed it over and over again, Mr Moore. I ask you to exercise a little restraint. You are cross with Mr Connolly, I am sure; but there is no reason to transgress standing orders in order to express your displeasure, and you well know it.
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, can I seek clarification? Are you telling me that a member cannot use the term "itchy nose"? Are you saying that "itchy nose" is unparliamentary?
MADAM SPEAKER: Today, Mr Moore, I am. Please withdraw that.
MR MOORE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Tomorrow is another day, but for now "itchy nose" is unparliamentary. This, Madam Speaker, will have to go down in the books.
MADAM SPEAKER: I am pleased that it will. Will you now withdraw it, Mr Moore?
MR MOORE: You also wish me to withdraw "itchy nose", Madam Speaker?
MADAM SPEAKER: I do now, yes, Mr Moore.
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, you wish me to withdraw "itchy nose"?
MADAM SPEAKER: You heard me, Mr Moore.
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, I withdraw "itchy nose".
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you. Proceed, Mr Moore.
MR MOORE: It is no wonder Mr Connolly's face is uncomfortable, and Carmen Lawrence is assisting in this. There was a suggestion that in some way the legislation that was put up might be - nobody was prepared to say that it is - inconsistent with our international treaties. This was part of putting up a whole public misconception about the import of that very sensible piece of legislation that we voted on and that is now before the Assembly again.
To reinforce this, I would like to quote from monograph No. 26, "Legislative options for cannabis in Australia", which is only a couple of months old and is part of the report of the National Task Force on Cannabis to the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. After discussing the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the other international treaties, it says:
Given that the United Nations Conventions do not specifically proscribe the medical uses of cannabis, introducing legislation that allowed the use of the drug for medical purposes in Australia would be relatively simple.
It is quite clear there and in many other places that there never was the slightest question about our international treaties.
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