Crispin Hull

Wayne Berry’s action in proposing a Private Members’ Bill on abortion is another in a line of Bills in the ACT taking up issues that politicians elsewhere fear to tread. Euthanasia; addictive drugs; smoking in public places, citizens’ initiated referendums, fluoride are other examples.

It makes for an interesting polity.

Often these laws are short and drafted in fairly plain language.

Berry’s law is the shortest and plainest of those mentioned. It has only two operative clauses. One repeals three sections of the Crimes Act on abortion and one repeals all common-law offences on abortion.

In a legal sense it is abortion on demand. In a practical sense, however, you cannot get a hip replacement or a dozen other medical procedures on demand in the ACT. You still need a doctor willing to do it and a medical facility to do it in.
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All statute and common-law criminal offences relating to abortion will be abolished in the ACT under Wayne Berry’s private members’ Bill, a draft of which was made public yesterday.

The Bill has just two operative clauses. The first repeals those sections of the Crimes Act which make it an offence punishable by 10 years’ jail for a woman to procure an abortion; for a doctor to perform one; or for anyone to provide drugs with the intent of causing an abortion.

The second repeals all common-law crimes related to abortion.

M Berry, a Labor MLA, said: “”It would be just up to a woman and her doctor.”
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The following is a chronology of the Vitab affair:

1964: ACTTAB set up as a separate entity to take off-course bets on horse races. It runs a totalisator scheme: bets on a race are totalled and dividends calculated so 85 per cent of takings are returned as winnings. The remaining 15 per cent to go to administration, government and the racing industry.

July 2, 1985: Northern Territory TAB starts. ACTTAB runs computer services and pooling operations, collecting 0.5 per cent of turnover.
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Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said yesterday that ACT Liberal influence with the Liberal Governments in Victoria was not the reason Victoria had pulled the pin on ACTTAB’s link with the Victorian superpool.

He said there were other reasons, but he would not say what they were in an interview on ABC Radio 2CN.

He also refused to say what his share of the $3.3 million settlement between Vitab and ACTTAB would be.
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Am seeking Carnell comment and will phone a few pars if she calls.

The ACT TAB settled its dispute with Vitab for $3.3 million last night and signed a contract to restore the pooling link with the Victorian superpool.

The terms of the three-year Victorian contract are similar to before the Vitab fiasco. It is expected that the injunction against ACTTAB from severing its computer link to Vitab in Vanuatu will be lifted in the Federal Court today and the pooling arrangement with Victoria will begin on Monday, the day the Victorian TAB becomes the privatised TAB Corp.
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The injunction requiring ACTTAB to take and process bets from the Vanuatu-based Vitab Ltd was continued until further order in the Federal Court yesterday sending TAB dividend payments into a tizz.

The injunction is likely to stay in force for at least two weeks.

The link between ACTTAB and the Victorian superpool remained cut yesterday and will remain cut while ACTTAB continues to take bets from Vitab, as the court order demands.
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The ACT TAB lost the commercial and legal trifecta in the past 48 hours.

Its very favourable link with the Victorian superpool was severed. It has an interim court injunction against it preventing it from severing links with the Vanuatu-based Vitab Ltd. And it faces an action for damages from Vitab in any event.

This is despite repeated assurances over the past two months from the present Minister for Sport, David Lamont, that he was confident a pooling arrangement would continue and repeated boasts from his predecessor, Wayne Berry, that the Vitab deal was good for the ACT.
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In the notebook range, the new design concentrated on portability. In the previous range the in-built mouse or tracker was virtually unusable. It required two hands: thumb of the left to direct the pointer and finger of the right to click.

The new range and a neat button between the G and H keys to control the pointer with two click buttons at the base of the keyboard.

The new range is about one kilogram light. Part of this is achieved by making the floppy drive detachable. Of greater importance for the traveller, is that the floppy drive can be replaced with a second battery pack (with smooth transition between the two) for great battery time.
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he diagrams are more important than the words.

Blocklines. Diagram 1 shows how Burley Griffin’s triangle is incomplete and how Russell is an enclave not legibly connected to Civic or the Parliamentary Zone and how its internal roads have no sensible pattern.

The other four diagrams show the progressive changes to Russell and how buildings and roads Will integrate to make the Apex and stronger focal point so it can be better used for ceremonial occasions.

story follows:
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The Minister for Environment, Land and Planning, Bill Wood, announced yesterday that an eminent town planner would be engaged to lead a strategic study of issues surrounding residential development in Canberra.

The study would examine what sort of Canberra we want in the future, he said.

It would complement the inquiry by the Assembly’s Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee.
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