Page 3162 - Week 15 - Thursday, 14 December 1989
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people. In particular, he pledged to review existing arrangements for nursing homes, hostels and convalescent and hospice care, to ensure adequacy of facilities. Facilities, of course, are not the only requirement of ageing people or indeed of anyone, and I do not for one moment believe Mr Kaine thinks so either. Human dignity, self-respect and maximum independence are the right of all in our society.
I deplore the action this week of the Liberal Party in the Federal Senate in voting to block legislation which would have provided a charter of rights for patients in nursing homes or hostels. The charter would have allowed all patients to have their own bank accounts, their own clothing, their own religion, their self-respect and dignity. It is now up to the new Chief Minister, Mr Kaine, to put into practice his much-voiced concern for the aged. He should act swiftly to introduce legislative protection for the ACT's elderly patients which his Federal counterparts have denied the rest of Australia.
In areas of health and education, Mr Kaine indicated his intention of handing over administrative responsibility to boards of management. Mr Kaine has nine Ministers, yet he seeks to ask part-time and presumably voluntary board members to do the hard work, to take the hard decisions. Again, we should not be too surprised. On 7 December, Mr Kaine spoke of maintaining excellence in these areas. Yet on 27 July, in commenting on proposed budget cuts in health and education, he dismissed my modest efficiency measures as merely nibbling at the edges. It is worth quoting in full Mr Kaine's remarks at that time. He said:
Turning to specific cost cutting proposals in education and health - operations identified by the Commonwealth Grants Commission as attracting expenditure significantly above standard, I am compelled to observe that the Government -
that was my Government -
has not bitten the bullet. The reductions proposed are, in general terms, only nibbling around the edges of the problem.
Mr Speaker, on that occasion, of course, Mr Collaery proposed a large injection of funds to these areas. I ask: how can the Canberra community know what is the current coalition policy? Which of these conflicting views will prevail? The Liberals have also thrown the whole ACT public service into turmoil. The administrative arrangements being put in place must either carve up every department or have public servants reporting to a plethora of Ministers and executive deputies.
Mr Speaker, this new Government has a great deal of work to do to convince the Canberra community that they are capable of delivering consistent and coherent policies in the best
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