Page 2657 - Week 12 - Thursday, 16 November 1989
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and a half on the matter yesterday. I think this also is quite inappropriate. I think it would have been more appropriate for Mr Humphries to present this motion at the end of the MPI yesterday. However, be that as it may, it is here.
The main reason I am going to vote against this motion is that I believe the Minister has the right to make that decision. I emphasise that that does not indicate that we lack confidence in the hospital interim board of management. We just recognise that it has come to the end of its life, and it is now the Minister's decision - he has that responsibility - to work out how he will replace that interim board.
MR DUBY (3.35): My remarks in this matter will be short and, I hope, sweet. Like Mr Moore, I have grave doubts about the validity of this motion at this particular time. We are in the middle of protracted discussions between various parties and lots of publicity about the ACT health system, and in particular the Royal Canberra Hospital.
A number of speakers have pointed out that the board of management that is currently in place is just that. It is an interim board of management whose term of duty expires, I believe, at the end of this year. At this stage no-one knows - I certainly have not been involved in any discussions as to the future - whether there is to be a board of management, whether the current board of management is to be retained, or whether there are to be new arrangements instituted by the Minister for Health. The fact remains, as far as I am concerned, that it is the Minister for Health's responsibility in this regard.
Much has been made of the fact that there has been a blow-out. We have asked questions in the house, and we have listened to statements made by the Minister in regard to the blow-out in costs in connection with the health system.
Ms Follett: And by me.
MR DUBY: Also the Chief Minister has commented on these matters. However, we do not seem to know for sure whether the projected figure of $2.5m for the first quarter is an accurate figure or a seasonal figure for the first quarter of this year. I am just not familiar with the normal situation of hospital expenditures. But the Minister has given indications that there is no way known that, even if the figure were $2.5m for this first quarter, the annual blow-out would be in the order of $10m, but the fact remains that there has been a blow-out. It appears that that is the case, and my understanding of how things work is that there should not be one.
A number of people in the Assembly and in the media generally have been trying to sheet that blame home to the Minister for Health. I have sincere doubts as to whether the Minister for Health is fully responsible.
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