Page 674 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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of money made quite some time ago. That backlog was cleared very quickly under this Government.
Mr Berry: Where did the money come from?
MR HUMPHRIES: It came from our CDF. It was announced by the Federal Government about two and a half or three years ago. It remained stagnant and backlogged because of an inability to make decisions previously. We moved quickly to free that money and to ensure that it was granted.
Mr Speaker, there is a second measure whereby we can assess whether a government has been successful or not in its first 100 days and that is by the sorts of comments that are made by an opposition. I believe that where there is substance, credibility and solid achievement, it is necessary for an opposition that wants to get its name in the papers to distort the facts; to make up straw men to joust with in order to justify its existence as an opposition. That has been the case in the last 100 days for sure.
Let us look at some of the ridiculous things that have been claimed by members opposite. I am particularly familiar with some of the outrageous claims made by the former Minister for Health. On 31 January in the Tuggeranong Valley View under a headline, "Health cuts will hit Tuggeranong", Mr Berry claimed:
The coalition Government is looking at any option to save money and closure of Woden Valley Hospital Accident and Emergency from 11.00 pm to 8.00 am would save about $250,000 a year ...
The fact is that this Government has no intention - I repeat, no intention - of closing or reducing the hours of operation of the Woden Valley Hospital casualty section. It would have been more responsible of Mr Berry to ask me or contact my office or my department before making a claim that that was going to happen. It was alarmist, it was irresponsible and it was a measure of his party's failure as an opposition. A measure of our achievement as a government is that we are able to say decisively that we will not be doing things of that kind.
A number of other statements, quite without foundation, have been made by members of the Opposition, particularly Mr Berry. Mr Berry claimed that the coalition Government - as he likes to call it - has dropped plans for a 24-hour crisis service for the mentally ill. Indeed, a claim was made that the Follett Labor Government had established a 24-hour mental health service. How interesting. I do not know about any 24-hour mental health service established by the previous Government. I know that the view has been expressed that we should have one.
Mr Berry: You read all the whole statement. Read all of it. You are lying. You should read all of it.
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