ROSEMARY ARMITAGE MLC

[12.52 p.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) Mr President, first I thank the Leader for the information that has been provided and the briefing. They were very good. I will be supporting the legislation. The extra information, particularly these sheets, cleared up many of the issues and made it easier. Ms Rattray - It saved making notes. Ms ARMITAGE - I still made a few notes, but it certainly did make it a lot easier. Ms Rattray - It was a big bill. Ms ARMITAGE - It certainly is

[11.20 a.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, most of us have stories about the honourable Greg Hall MLC - Mr Gregory Raymond Hall or to me, 'Graymond'. As we all know, Greg had nicknames for us all. This is an unusual time, when we have not been able to acknowledge or farewell a member while he is still an active member of parliament. We cannot tell him while in his presence that he will be missed. We cannot tell him that he was a great asset to this House and we

[4.55 p.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, Vanessa Goodwin, 1969 to 2018. In the autumn of 1969, on 22 April, Vanessa Goodwin was born in Hobart. She was the only child of Edyth and Grant Goodwin. Vanessa spent her early years at Rose Bay and often ventured to Seven Mile Beach to swim. She also spent much of her spare time participating in pony club with her horse Honey. Her love for animals was further fuelled when her family bought a cattery and a boarding kennel

[8.49 p.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, last September the Finfish Farming Environmental Regulation Bill 2017 passed through both the lower and upper Houses of this parliament and received royal assent in December 2017. That bill transferred the power of environmental regulation of the finfish farming industry from the department of Primary Industries and Water to the Environment Protection Agency. The passing of the bill enabled additional legislation and regula

[6.10 p.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, I thank the member for Rosevears for bringing this forward. The latest report from the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania has no real surprises in it and confirms what most of us here know about the importance of tourism to our state. In the year ending December 2017, 1.26 million visitors were welcomed to Tasmania with a goal of 1.5 million visitors for the year ending 2020. We had a record $2.3 billion visitor spend in

[3.05 p.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, once again the annual report for the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management paints an optimistic picture of life in Tasmania. I thank the member for Windermere for once again putting it on our agenda so that we could discuss it. It found 79 per cent of Tasmanian residents are generally satisfied with policing services. Home burglaries decreased and public order incidents also fell. Public place assaults dec

[11.07 a.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, on 4 April this year a local community theatre group in Launceston, the Encore Theatre Company, celebrated its 10-year anniversary. In April 2008 Encore was founded with a mission to bring family, friendship, love, laughter, curiosity, risk, hope and possibility to the masses via the theatre. The theatre group's objectives include promoting an appreciation of the arts, particularly live theatre, within the community; pre

[5.17 p.m.] Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Madam Acting President, what a terrible decision for someone to have to make. Although abortion was decriminalised in Tasmania in 2013, elective surgical and medical abortions are again unavailable through the state's public health system. This is because Tasmania's only public surgical abortion clinic closed late in 2017, due, we were told, to increasing costs and significant decrease in demand. I am advised the decrease in demand wa