Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

ADJOURNMENT
Tuesday, 31 May 2011 COUNCIL 1593
circumstances that occur near the end of a person’s life
and the challenging family and individual
circumstances of that person. She points to my
consultations with Palliative Care Victoria and other
groups when in opposition, which I might add I have
continued in government. She makes the point that this
is not an easy matter to discuss. Notwithstanding that, it
is important. She talks about the document, entitled
Strengthening of Palliative Care and seeks to know
when the guidelines on palliative care will be released. I
can inform Mrs Coote that these are out for consultation
at the moment and the implementation process is close
to beginning, but we will certainly seek input from the
community. I can indicate that there will be further
steps on that before August.
Ms Mikakos raised a matter to which Ms Lovell seeks
to respond in a moment, and I will let Ms Lovell do
that.
Mr Ondarchie raised a matter about manufacturing in
the northern metropolitan area. It sounded to me like a
number of the manufacturing groups in that area are
facing particular difficulties. This is not dissimilar to
some of the points raised by Mr Lenders earlier. The
challenges faced by manufacturing groups, including
the high Australian dollar, were also referenced by the
Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade earlier
in the day. I accept the President’s point that there is not
much any Victorian government can do about the high
dollar, although I think that global competition, which
was pointed to, is something to which state
governments can respond in order to ensure that the
manufacturing industry is in the most competitive
position that a state government can place it. I have no
doubt that the minister is attending to those sorts of
matters.
There were also matters raised about the carbon tax, its
effect and its impact, in particular on manufacturing
groups in Victoria. I do not wish to disagree with the
President, but I think the impact of the carbon tax on
Victoria, including on manufacturing, is a legitimate
matter for state concern, given Victoria’s particular
dependence on a number of energy sources and the
need for it to ensure that it is not cut short by any
federal scheme which may or may not be introduced —
a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme — by
whatever particular political party might be in power.
Victoria has legitimate questions to raise about its
specific circumstances. I will certainly pass that on to
the relevant minister.
Mr Jennings raised an issue with me regarding World
No Tobacco Day. He made a number of legitimate
points about the long-term movement against tobacco
smoking and the need for public health measures. On
those general points I thoroughly agree with him and
offer strong support as somebody who both under a
Liberal government and under Labor governments has
uniformly supported sensible and practical anti-tobacco
measures, including the implementation in January this
year of the point-of-sale legislation which had been
agreed to by both sides. In fact I made the point at the
press conference that it had been agreed to unanimously
by every member of this house.
I pay particular tribute to the work of Mr Drum for
framing an early version of that legislation in this
chamber, which was carried, which sought to restrict
supply at point of sale and also to introduce bans on
smoking in cars where children under 18 years of age
were in the cars. I wholeheartedly support the
leadership shown by Mr Drum. Indeed the coalition at
that time welcomed the then government’s decision to
bring forward its own bill, which sought to cover much
of the same territory.
In terms of the matters raised about donations to
political parties, I will leave those to my political party
to deal with, as is normal practice. But in response to
the gratuitous comments that did little justice to the
genuine goodwill of Mr Jennings in this area, I make
the point that his own party has a group called the
Australian Workers Union which has a tobacco section
that inputs directly into Labor Party coffers. The
presence of that section is a matter that the Labor Party
ought to think about before it goes pushing in a range of
directions. I make the point that not only does it make
financial donations but it has votes at Labor Party
conferences, state and federal.
The PRESIDENT — Order! Mr Davis has made
the point. I do not believe I am in a position to constrain
the minister because I think Mr Jennings led with his
chin on this one. I accept that. However, I really do not
wish to go further into the affairs of the Labor Party
with respect to this particular adjournment item, which
was not about the affairs of the Labor Party but was
about restrictions on the sale of tobacco products.
Hon. D. M. DAVIS — I accept your point,
President. In terms of my response on those more
general matters of tobacco control, I think there are
significant measures of agreement across the
Parliament.
Mr Barber raised a matter for the Minister for
Consumer Affairs, perhaps also with his Minister for
Energy and Resources hat on, relating to the
proliferation of websites which compare electricity
deals. I understand the point that he makes. He seeks