Ms FYLES - 2013-03-28
Before you knifed him, the former Chief Minister, Terry Mills, blamed Dave Tollner for the delay in implementing your promised alcohol laws, including mandatory treatment. Do you agree with Terry Mills that Dave Tollner failed? If not, why have you not introduced new alcohol laws?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do not accept the premise of the question. I thank the member for asking one, though. As I have said in the Chamber today, the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation will be making an announcement very soon.
I will go back to the point, which I laboured heavily on Tuesday, that one of the challenges about alcohol rehabilitation, where we want to help the people who have the problem, is that it costs a great deal of money and we are trying to find the resources, in light of the $5.5bn debt, to be able to do this.
We are looking at the options, we are building the legislative framework; we are setting aside the cost options and working out how we can do this with limited resources, because you left us in such a dire fiscal position. That is where we are.
The announcement about the process that will be occurring will be made very soon. We are finalising some things and then we will bring about the legislative framework and get that in place. I know the Attorney-General is working very hard with the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation to ensure the frameworks we put in are right and will help people.
I go back to an earlier answer I gave: we want to help people who have a problem. This is not about demonising people who consume too much grog, this is about helping people who have a substance abuse problem. The rehabilitation side of things is about helping people. You have to be very careful in this framework about getting the clinical responsibilities of a health …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Have you scrapped your habitual drunk’s policy? You said you would lock them up …
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, there is no point of order.
Mr GILES: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I am trying to give a reasoned response to this. There are people in our community who have problems with substance abuse. We want to help them; we have to get the model right. That is all we are doing. We are struggling with funding because you left us in such debt.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do not accept the premise of the question. I thank the member for asking one, though. As I have said in the Chamber today, the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation will be making an announcement very soon.
I will go back to the point, which I laboured heavily on Tuesday, that one of the challenges about alcohol rehabilitation, where we want to help the people who have the problem, is that it costs a great deal of money and we are trying to find the resources, in light of the $5.5bn debt, to be able to do this.
We are looking at the options, we are building the legislative framework; we are setting aside the cost options and working out how we can do this with limited resources, because you left us in such a dire fiscal position. That is where we are.
The announcement about the process that will be occurring will be made very soon. We are finalising some things and then we will bring about the legislative framework and get that in place. I know the Attorney-General is working very hard with the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation to ensure the frameworks we put in are right and will help people.
I go back to an earlier answer I gave: we want to help people who have a problem. This is not about demonising people who consume too much grog, this is about helping people who have a substance abuse problem. The rehabilitation side of things is about helping people. You have to be very careful in this framework about getting the clinical responsibilities of a health …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Have you scrapped your habitual drunk’s policy? You said you would lock them up …
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, there is no point of order.
Mr GILES: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I am trying to give a reasoned response to this. There are people in our community who have problems with substance abuse. We want to help them; we have to get the model right. That is all we are doing. We are struggling with funding because you left us in such debt.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016