Page 2660 - Week 12 - Thursday, 16 November 1989
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that report stated that a board of management would be the most appropriate form of hospital administration, and that is something that cannot be taken lightly at all.
There are a number of boards and advisory bodies in the Australian Capital Territory, some more effective than others. It appears, though, in terms of our hospital administration we have here an independent board that is not afraid to go out and make recommendations that it sees in the very best interests of the hospital administration, not pandering to any particular sectional interest, but in the best interests of the community. Mr Humphries' motion is most appropriate, and indeed a board of similar structure, perhaps, as recommended by the Kearney report, is the most appropriate form of hospital administration.
MR BERRY (Minister for Community Services and Health) (3.45): I see that Mr Kaine has lost his previous enthusiasm to speak.
Mr Kaine: I have not lost my enthusiasm. I am going to wait to hear what you say. I am not stupid.
MR BERRY: Well, there will not be a lot new in it, Mr Kaine.
Mr Kaine: I did not expect there would, but I just thought I would listen anyway.
MR BERRY: Principally because there is not a lot new in the behaviour of the Liberal Party. It is a great pity that Mr Humphries is not in the place to listen to what I have to say. Again, this is part of the program, Mr Speaker, where the Liberals create, as I have said before, a frenzy and then attempt to feed off it politically and get themselves involved in cheap headline grabbing. This is the nature of the beast, and I suppose we will all have to learn to live with that.
There are a few things that Mr Humphries said that I think I need to comment on. He correctly reported me as saying that the board's days were numbered. Of course, that was a statement of fact. It was not a cynical remark about the board at all. The fact of the matter is that the interim - and I emphasise "interim" - board of directors' term is set to run out on 31 December, and there is no avoiding that. That term expires on 31 December. The Government has the responsibility to develop a structure to replace the board when its term expires.
Those are the sorts of things that the Liberal Party members have not mentioned. They talk emotionally about blow-out figures. An overrun has been reported to me, and the Government has reacted appropriately and correctly to examine the cost overruns in the light of a request for assistance by the acting chairman of the interim board of directors. That new team is conducting its work. I have already mentioned the interim report that the Government
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