Page 4586 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 6 December 1994
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But he could not. They got carried away. As Mr Kaine would well know, there has been some significant political damage done to his party and therefore to him. I know that most people in the community probably see him as separate from it and lay the blame at the feet of the people who really did it - Mrs Carnell, Mr De Domenico and Mr Humphries. They are the ones who are going to wear it. None of the others really support this, but they have been towed along.
We now have the opportunity, colleagues, to wipe the slate clean. If, as Mrs Carnell would usually put it, the NHMRC is the right body to look at these sorts of things, perhaps one day the NHMRC will do something about this issue and there may come about change on a national basis, not one that is being pursued because Mr Moore wants to lead the world on these issues. It is all very well for him to want to lead the world, but we live in a society where you have to take the rest of the country with you. I have put to Mr Moore on several occasions the view that you have to do it at national forums to get these things changed. You might get your picture in the newspaper; Mrs Carnell might get her picture in the newspaper, although I do not think she would have liked the ones that were in the newspaper last week. If you want to get the use of these sorts of things changed, it has to be done in a national context. That is a sensible way to go. But sense went out the window last week, and we all wore the effects of it.
You have the opportunity now to fix it. If you want to go down the path of changing the way these drugs are used in the community, you do it sensibly. The government of the day - Labor in this case - will raise these matters as the need arises and have them dealt with sensibly at a national level. Running around like chickens with your heads chopped off on this issue is quite silly, and we all wear the flak from that. What seems to be developing now is that the whole thing will collapse and you will be able to say, "We are free of it". Mr Moore will be able to say, "I am free of it. It has all gone away now. It has been rescinded and we could not get support from everybody. It just fell apart". The Liberals will say the same thing, namely, "We are free of it, and we played a part in that, ho, ho, ho".
Mr De Domenico: What are you going to say?
MR BERRY: I will say, "At last Labor has cleaned it up again". The grand opportunity is here for you to play a part in that, and a sensible part. I know that there are a few members amongst your party who, if they had their druthers, would be voting with us. Pretty soon, they are going to have the opportunity, and on this occasion we would welcome it.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (5.30): Very briefly, I think there are a couple of things that need to be cleared up. The Health Minister raved on for a very long time about how concerning and worrying it would be to pass this amendment because it spoke about cannabis leaf rather than just synthetic cannabinoids. He forgot that section 32(2)(b)(iii) of his own Act says that he has to approve the strength and form of the drug or substance that is to be possessed or used. If there is something wrong with that, it is the Minister's own fault. He does not even understand his own legislation.
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