Former Liberal leader Isobel Redmond has defended her push to disallow a government regulation banning commercial sun-beds in South Australia.
Redmond told Parliament this morning that she accepted there was a well-made public health argument for banning sun-beds, but insisted parliament should debate the ban as a matter of process.
She said principles of scrutiny and natural justice demanded that a select committee should be formed to investigate the issue, rather than have the minister end the industry by regulation.
She said owners of solaria studios would “lose their homes and go bankrupt” when the ban takes effect on December 31, and that because of these serious consequences, the issue deserved parliamentary debate.
“I don’t think we should be abandoning the function of this parliament,” she said.
“The only reasonable thing to do would be to have a proper debate … in a select committee.”
Redmond raised concerns that when the industry is banned, young people would turn to in-home sun beds, which may “create a bigger problem than the one we’re trying to solve”.
She also questioned the ban on the basis that other public health threats – such as smoking, gambling, alcohol and driving cars – have not been prohibited by law.
Redmond said she had no commercial interests in the solarium industry.
Sunbeds, considered potentially deadly to users by the Cancer Council, have come under increasing scrutiny after Victorian woman Clare Oliver called for them to be banned. Oliver, who had used the tanning devices, later died from skin cancer.
Former Labor minister Paul Caica labelled Redmond’s motion “the most foolish and reckless thing that I’ve witnessed since I’ve been here”.
He said New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT will join South Australia in implementing solarium bans at the end of the year.
Liberal frontbencher Duncan McFetridge confirmed the opposition wouldn’t be supporting Redmond’s motion to overturn the regulation.
The motion was defeated a short time ago.
Redmond’s performance in Parliament has been questioned after she described State Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley as “utterly corrupt” – a claim she repeated and then withdrew.
