Page 2575 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 15 November 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
And yet, Mr Speaker, it seems to me that that is exactly what the Minister is considering - taking the easy way out and cutting patient services. That is the only thing left to this Minister if he is not prepared to tackle the hard questions of overmanning and poor work practices. The editorial concludes:
Undoubtedly, making the necessary changes will cause pain to the trade unions and some of their screams will be focused on Mr Berry's own political power base. But Mr Berry was not elected or given his ministry to serve the industrial interests of the nurses and other hospital staff. If he has not got the guts to put a higher interest - the people of Canberra - before them, he should resign. And he should do it quickly before the damage that his irresolution is causing becomes too great.
I endorse those comments, Mr Speaker. I ask the Minister to seriously consider his position, decide whether the interests of the hospital system would not be better served by some other Minister being there, and consider whether he has the fortitude needed to make the hard decisions in our hospital system.
MR BERRY (Minister for Community Services and Health) (3.36): Mr Speaker, I think the first and most important thing that the Assembly has to deal with is the Government's approach to the management of hospitals from the outset. The Government's territorial budget statement, announced in July, was framed to achieve short- and long-term adjustments. It was grounded in the principles of social justice and, of course, we had to recognise responsibly the overfunding identified by the Grants Commission.
In health services, Mr Speaker, the budget began the longer-term strategy to address the $13.4m above-standard expenditure identified by the Grants Commission. All of this puts to rest any of the allegations that Mr Humphries made, and later I will be able to explain where Mr Humphries has irresponsibly dealt with this issue and stirred up more trouble in the hospital system than should have been the case. But the interesting part about it is that Mr Humphries can do it very safely from his side of the house because he will never have to deliver.
Despite a difficult economic climate, I announced some important programs. These included asbestos removal from the Royal Canberra Hospital, upgrading fire penetration provisions, sanitising equipment for Woden Valley Hospital, a 24-hour mental health crisis admission service, the child abuse assessment clinic and a critical incident stress debriefing service.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .