❓ A member of parliament questions the Minister for Health about delays to the Public Health Bill, citing potential consequences for Aboriginal, environmental, and health issues. The Minister acknowledges the delay but defends the prioritization.
AnsweredQoN 715Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PUBLIC HEALTH BILL
In asking my question, I note the absence of the Leader of the Opposition whose mother passed away on the weekend and I pass on our deepest sympathy to the leader and his family. I also welcome back the member for Scarborough. In February this year, the minister put on the record in this place that the new public health bill will come to the Parliament by the end of the year. (1) Does the minister recognise that delays in this legislation have serious consequences for the state government being held responsible for Aboriginal, environmental and health issues as a result of disparate conditions? (2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES
In asking my question, I note the absence of the Leader of the Opposition whose mother passed away on the weekend and I pass on our deepest sympathy to the leader and his family. I also welcome back the member for Scarborough. In February this year, the minister put on the record in this place that the new public health bill will come to the Parliament by the end of the year. (1) Does the minister recognise that delays in this legislation have serious consequences for the state government being held responsible for Aboriginal, environmental and health issues as a result of disparate conditions? (2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES
AnswerView source ↗
I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
In February this year, the minister put on the record in this place that the new public health bill will come to the Parliament by the end of the year. (1) Does the minister recognise that delays in this legislation have serious consequences for the state government being held responsible for Aboriginal, environmental and health issues as a result of disparate conditions? (2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
(1) Does the minister recognise that delays in this legislation have serious consequences for the state government being held responsible for Aboriginal, environmental and health issues as a result of disparate conditions? (2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
(2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
(1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
In February this year, the minister put on the record in this place that the new public health bill will come to the Parliament by the end of the year. (1) Does the minister recognise that delays in this legislation have serious consequences for the state government being held responsible for Aboriginal, environmental and health issues as a result of disparate conditions? (2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
(1) Does the minister recognise that delays in this legislation have serious consequences for the state government being held responsible for Aboriginal, environmental and health issues as a result of disparate conditions? (2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
(2) Given this legislation was drafted in 2008 and put out for extensive public consultation, why has the minister delayed this bill, claiming last month that it will now not be ready until 2012? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
I add my condolences to the Leader of the Opposition. Hon Kate Doust represented him at the Western Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce dinner on Saturday night and we were aware at that time that his mother had passed, so our sympathies to him. (1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
(1)–(2) I know the public health bill has been coming for a long time. I have to say that we have not put it at the top of our agenda. The act that has been there for such a long time has been running pretty well. There are some anomalies obviously, as we would expect, with an act that old. I have been concerned myself with the huge amount of time taken in drafting all the changes and the minutiae. It is a very large bill. In fact, I did not anticipate this question but I asked not half an hour ago for my staff to go have a look and see where this bill is at. I committed to getting it in this year and I would still like to see that occur. It all depends on the drafting. It will take a lot of debate and I think we will spend a fair bit of our time next year in this house going through that bill. But it is true that I have not regarded it as urgent. If the opposition has views on why it believes it is urgent, I will be pleased to hear those views.
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