Legislative Assembly
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Legislative Assembly Thursday, 14 August 2003 THE SPEAKER (Mr F. Riebeling) took the Chair at 9.00 am, and read prayers. AUSTRALIA BUSINESS ARTS FOUNDATION AWARDS Statement by Minister for Culture and the Arts MS S.M. McHALE (Thornlie - Minister for Culture and the Arts) [9.02 am]: I bring to the attention of the House Western Australia’s success in the recent Australia Business Arts Foundation Awards presented on 7 August 2003. The awards this year attracted nominations from 107 partnerships, which is the highest number received to date. Forty of those nominations were from Western Australia, and seven of the 27 finalists were from our State. It is pleasing to note that three of the nine national categories, and the Richard Pratt Business Leadership Award, were won by Western Australians. I congratulate Janet Holmes a Court on receiving the Richard Pratt Business Leadership Award. Members will be aware that Janet joins previous winner Michael Chaney in being presented this award in recognition of business leadership in support of the arts. I also congratulate Alcoa World Alumina on winning the Caliburn Corporate Strategy Award. This award recognises companies that are implementing strategies to maximise returns on their arts partnerships. The SPEAKER: Order, members! The background noise from other conversations means that I am having difficulty hearing the minister. Ms S.M. McHALE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Alcoa World Alumina has successfully linked its arts partnerships with what the company is trying to do as a whole, and has integrated its corporate objectives with the needs of its arts partners. Congratulations are also extended to Woodside Energy Ltd and the Western Australian Museum as winners of the City of Sydney Open Award for sponsorship of the Museum’s four-year survey of the marine life of the Dampier Archipelago. Woodside provided technical and scientific expertise to that survey. Our third category winner was the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund, Wesfarmers Arts, and Craftwest Centre for Contemporary Craft for the Designing Futures project. The project, which won the ABaF Councillors Community Award, worked in partnership with the design and timber industries to create economic and community opportunities arising out of the old-growth logging policy. It is evident that the resource sector in Western Australia is leading the way in the development of partnerships that provide benefits to the wider community and to their own corporate strategy. Western Australia is recognised as the national leader in business-arts partnership initiatives, and this year is the tenth anniversary of the State Arts Sponsorship Scheme Awards, upon which the national awards are modelled. The arts and cultural sector makes a significant economic and social contribution to our State, and the arts are essential to a healthy community. Our Government wants WA to be recognised as a place in which to live, work and do business, and to visit. I am sure the Parliament will join me in thanking corporate supporters who have joined us in recognising that culture is good for the community and for business, and that investment in the arts makes sense. VICTORIA PARK PHARMACY Statement by Minister for Health MR J.A. McGINTY (Fremantle - Minister for Health) [9.06 am]: The Victoria Park Pharmacy will be withdrawing from participation in the community program for opioid pharmacotherapy, effective from tomorrow. This community- based program provides treatment for opioid dependence. Participating medical practitioners and pharmacies are required to be authorised by the Commissioner of Health and must comply with guidelines and legislative requirements. Methadone solution and buprenorphine tablets, under the trade name Subutex, are supplied free of charge. Patients pay the pharmacy fee and the Commonwealth pays the drug costs. The program aims to cut opioid dependence and reduce harm to individuals and the community from illicit opioid use. Pharmacies in the program usually have between 50 and 75 clients. The Victoria Park Pharmacy had up to 250 clients. The pharmacy had been experiencing problems in complying with the Poisons Act, with the appropriate tracking and accounting of the tablets supplied to the pharmacy, and with proper supervision of clients using the tablets. The Department of Health reached an agreement with the owner of the pharmacy in August last year to enable the pharmacy to continue in the program, but a further inspection in May this year found that the pharmacy’s record keeping continued to be inadequate, and that three of the conditions set out in the agreement of August 2002 were not being complied with. The pharmacist acknowledged the problems and agreed to withdraw from the program. Prosecution was considered but there was no public benefit in taking this approach if corrective action could be achieved through other means. As a large number of clients use this pharmacy, a date of 15 August was set as the last day for participation in the program to allow those clients to find an alternative pharmacy with which to continue their 9990 [ASSEMBLY - Thursday, 14 August 2003] treatment. The Department of Health has helped the pharmacy find alternative treatment places for its 220 patients, and a notice was provided to clients advising what they needed to do before 15 August. The State Government appreciates the crucial role that pharmacists play in the community and acknowledges their ongoing support in the delivery of methadone and buprenorphine. The ongoing success of this program is dependent on ensuring that these drugs are supplied in a safe and responsible manner. It is the Department of Health’s responsibility to ensure that pharmacies participating in the distribution program comply with the guidelines and legislative requirements. It is not acceptable for the department to allow any practice that contravenes the Poisons Act. I understand the views of those who presented a petition to my office calling for the pharmacy to continue in the program. However, it is in the best interests of the program and the Victoria Park Pharmacy for tomorrow to be the last day that it participates in the community program for opioid pharmacotherapy. RECREATIONAL BOATING AND COASTAL MANAGEMENT Statement by Minister for Planning and Infrastructure MS A.J. MacTIERNAN (Armadale - Minister for Planning and Infrastructure) [9.09 am]: This year the State Government has allocated $1.1 million to improve coastal management and increase boating facilities around our State. The SPEAKER: Very good too. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: Mr Speaker, your electorate has been a great recipient of these funds, so you would appreciate them. More than $600 000 has been allocated through the recreational boating facilities scheme for the purpose of building, maintaining and improving facilities for recreational boat users. In addition, we have allocated more than $500 000 under the new Coastwest grants program. This new program assists in protecting and repairing precious marine and coastal areas along the coast of Western Australia. Recreational boating facilities scheme funding is sourced from recreational boat registration fees and provided to local councils through the Department of Planning and Infrastructure on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Through the scheme the State Government gives back to the community and recreational boat users through the provision of boating facilities such as boat launches and jetties, and improvements to groynes and harbours. These improvements will help cater for the increasing number of recreational boats and enable greater access in the community to our coastal lifestyle. In July I announced an allocation of more than $200 000 for better boating facilities in Geraldton, Irwin, Derby-West Kimberley, Joondalup, Busselton and Albany. Today I announce the allocation of almost $400 000 for six additional recreational boating facilities projects: $95 500 for Geraldton’s coast for the extension of the rock groyne at the town beach and a proposed boat-launching facility at Pages Beach; $150 000 for a boat-launching facility at Carnarvon; and more than $150 000 for three projects in the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley, including the upgrade of the pontoon jetty at Wyndham port, the construction of a boat launch at lower Ord River and the upgrade of a boat launch at Lily Creek Lagoon in Kununurra. The allocation of more than $500 000 in Coastwest grants will provide opportunities and resources for local community members to play an active role in maintaining and enhancing their local coastal environment, with financial support from the Government. The Coastwest grants program is administered and managed by the Western Australian Planning Commission and builds upon the past achievements of the previous Coastwest-Coastcare environmental repair work. I am very pleased to announce 34 successful projects, including a $33 750 Coastwest grant for a long-term turtle monitoring program in the internationally significant Ningaloo Marine Park. The World Wildlife Fund Australia, the Department of Conservation and Land Management, the Cape Conservation Group and researchers from Murdoch University will work with industry and user groups, indigenous communities and pastoral leaseholders for the protection and conservation of marine turtles. YARLOOP HOSPITAL Statement by Minister for Health MR J.A. McGINTY (Fremantle - Minister for Health) [9.13 am]: Yarloop’s timber and fibro hospital is more than 100 years old. It has up to 18 hospital beds, but low demand means that only 10 are usually required. In recent years the hospital has catered mainly for elderly care patients, with primary care provided by the Harvey Health Service. Significant fire risk problems have been identified and I am concerned there may be a serious problem for staff and patients. It is estimated that it would take five minutes from the start of a fire to an inferno in the hospital. A recent fire evacuation drill found that staff could realistically evacuate only three to four mobile or two immobile patients in that time.