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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (5 November) . . Page.. 3598 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

a recreational substance that is freely available to them. Heroin trials and alternatives to the existing process of dealing with the drug problem have sent the community a message which suggests that serious drug use has become a recreational issue which young people should not be that frightened of; but, of course, they should. Our drug messages must be tailored to respond to these realities. Just telling kids to say no is not a smart approach because it is a worn-out slogan. While I welcome the small increase in funds - - -

Mrs Carnell: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I wonder whether Mr Berry could please tell everybody here where "just say no" is in Mr Howard's statement, because that would certainly be interesting to me in terms of whether I vote for this motion or not.

Mr Corbell: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. There is no point of order. It is frivolous.

MR SPEAKER: Mrs Carnell is rightly drawing attention to the motion that is before the Chair. I just remind Mr Berry. He might like to work his way back to that.

Mr Corbell: Under what standing order?

MR SPEAKER: Relevance.

MR BERRY: Rubbish, Mr Speaker! The "just say no" approach is the approach that John Howard has taken in the past, Mrs Carnell, if you have not noticed. I know that he is your preferred Prime Minister and that he wears a little saintly crown, a halo, all the time; but he is your problem, not mine. While I welcome the small increase in Federal funds available for drug programs in the ACT, it must be noted that the ACT Government must also respond to the growing problem in the ACT and divert funds into these areas as well. At the end of the 1995-96 financial year Healthpact had reserves of $1.047m, but less than one per cent of its $2.212m in funding had been allocated towards drug messages. With overall reserves of over three-quarters of a million dollars expected at the end of this financial year out of a revenue of over $2.9m, there is plenty of funding available for urgent drug initiatives; but they have not been taken by this Government opposite. This would allow a range of programs to be developed to ensure that the anti-drug message was delivered in the most appropriate ways.

I heard this morning that Mrs Carnell had put out a press release criticising Labor, or me in particular, about the refocusing of funds in the drug and alcohol budget. It talked about some removal of funding from Mancare and transferring it somewhere else, and it was highly critical on that issue. She was very careful not to mention the fact that it was Labor, and me in particular, who made the biggest advance ever made in the ACT when we expanded the methadone program from 80 places to something like 300. You did not mention that, Mrs Carnell.

Mrs Carnell: How many do we have now?

MR BERRY: There was a threefold or fourfold increase by Labor. We broke the ice. Mr Speaker, it would be a good use of Healthpact's funding if there were more initiatives taken in relation to the anti-drug message, but Mrs Carnell has steadfastly refused to direct Healthpact to take on the issue. The Health Promotion Act allows Mrs Carnell to issue specific directions, but none have been forthcoming. My motion provides all of the avenues for Mrs Carnell to try that direction now. She has the option in front of her.

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