Page 3829 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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It is quite clear that a lot of people in the community think cannabis is being legalised and it will be a free-for-all. As a result, as others have warned through the committee process, we are going to see an increase in the incidence of drug driving. The Chief Police Officer certainly talked about those issues this morning. Some people are now going to think that cannabis use in any circumstance is legal. They are going to be out there and will now be engaged with the criminal justice system, whereas previously they would not have been.
We support the amendment—there is a similar one from the government that I think will now not be moved—because it recognises that this has been a confusing debacle. Even the government disagrees on what is happening today. There is a need for a public information campaign to try to establish for the community exactly the parameters for what they can do. Clearly, ambiguity will remain.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 3 agreed to.
Clause 4.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tertiary Education, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (11.22), by leave: I move amendments Nos 2 and 3 circulated in my name together [see schedule 1 at page 3919] and table a supplementary explanatory statement to the government amendments. As I concluded in my extensive remarks at the beginning of the detail stage, amendments Nos 2 and 3 address the number of plants that can be cultivated.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (11.22): We will be supporting these amendments. As the Chief Minister said, they reduce the number of plants from four to two. We think that is a good change. As I have said previously, we do not think the bill is workable, but this goes some way to limiting some of the bad aspects of this legislation.
Amendments agreed to.
Clause 4, as amended, agreed to.
Proposed new clause 4A.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (11.23): I move amendment No 2 circulated in my name, which inserts a new clause 4A [see schedule 2 at page 3923]. This amendment provides a set of objects for the Drugs of Dependence Act 1989 which embed the principles of harm minimisation and support the interpretation of the act, in line with a public health approach to the personal use of drugs of dependence. This accords with the Australian government’s long-term commitment to the policy framework of harm minimisation and is further established in both the national and ACT government drug strategies.
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