Page 1036 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 1990
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In the time available to me I just want to run through some of the comments that others have made on the respective positions of our two parties. Mr Berry has claimed that our position is not supportable, that the people of Canberra will turn on us, that we are going to get dumped on from all sides, having made this hard choice. I want first of all to quote from an editorial in the Canberra Times that accompanied Mr Berry's vacillations last year on the question of the hospital redevelopment. On 9 November the editorial said:
The ACT Minister for Health, Wayne Berry, is showing every sign that he lacks the experience and guts to handle the crisis in the ACT health system. He simply will not make the hard decisions. And when the unpalatable options are put before him, he runs away from them, thinking that the crisis will go away.
And earlier, on 1 November, another editorial said:
Unfortunately, despite Mr Berry's brave words and his "decisive" statement about reducing duplication and finding efficiencies, his avoidance of the issue of job losses bodes ill for the achievement of either. Mr Berry is no doubt right to seek restructurings, improved training, better career paths and so on. But the object of these exercises has to be an overall greater efficiency - doing better with less.
That is precisely the choice that this Government has made.
I will now quote another editorial in the Canberra Times on 27 March this year. It refers to the decision made by this Government with respect to the two-hospital option rather than the three-hospital option. It said:
The closure of Royal Canberra will save the ACT about $20m a year - even after those employed within the hospital are relocated elsewhere in the hospital system. About $8m will come from recurrent savings, the remaining $12m or so will come from capital savings ... The saving is substantial enough that ACT health planners can at once begin with a budget meeting the likely level of Commonwealth subvention - without cutting the level of service to the people of Canberra one jot - something that has seemed impossible until today.
That is the point, Mr Deputy Speaker. We have been able to spend some money on other things that are important to the people of Canberra because we have saved that money elsewhere; we have made the hard decisions. That is what gives us the right to come here and say, "We believe we can provide these things to the people of Canberra". And we can.
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