Page 3422 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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major mistakes. These people—this minister and the people who advise her—should hang their heads in shame. They should not be tittering from the advisers benches over this, because this is a scandal.
Dr Foskey is entirely correct about the processes that go on in this place. We introduce a bill, we take so long to get our act together and then suddenly it is something that has to be done at great pace. This minister did not recognise, probably did not even read—
Ms Gallagher: This minister listened to the scrutiny of bills report. What an offence!
MRS DUNNE: This minister had to be told about a major issue of human rights by the scrutiny of bills committee. Any first year law student, any member who picks this up for the first time and actually reads it, would see what was wrong with this. This is a disgrace.
There are other elements in this that Mr Seselja has touched upon—the provisions in part 2.8 of new subsection 250. What is open to interpretation and is probably a live argument is that, for some time since July 2005, a range of procedures have been carried out in medical facilities which are not registered medical facilities. That makes those procedures illegal.
All of those procedures, irrespective of what they are, are illegal. The issue that concerns me—and which I gather concerns Mr Seselja—is that, as a person who is conscientiously opposed to the procedure of abortion, an abortion can only be carried out in a registered premises. The fact that we are here today retrospectively registering those premises back to July 2005 quite possibly means that every one of those abortions was illegal.
This is another failure of the Stanhope government. It spends its time tilting at windmills and going after the issues that are not of interest to the people of the ACT. At the same time it is prepared to allow medical procedures to go on in unregistered facilities, rendering them illegal. It is prepared to endorse and have on the statute books provisions that allow the president of a tribunal to lock someone up indefinitely without any protections. This is the Stanhope government.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Health, Minister for Disability and Community Services and Minister for Women) (11.41), in reply: I thank members for their contribution to the debate. Is Mrs Dunne is having a bad day or what? We have all read about and listened to the turmoil in the Liberal Party. It seems Mrs Dunne has not been able to vent her spleen other than by coming in and attacking me quite personally on a number of issues in the first complex legislation to be debated today.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, minister, relevance!
MS GALLAGHER: I am linking Mrs Dunne’s contribution to the debate. It is clear that Mrs Dunne is having a bad day, as are many members of the opposition, I assume.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: With due respect, I do not think you can link a bad day to the debate.
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