Page 978 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
they have not been prepared to do anything to date in relation to legislation, but I would hope that we would be able to get some indication that they are prepared to do some work to provide quality, affordable, accessible services for women who are planning childbirth in the ACT. That is aside from rhetoric about birthing centres. Birthing centres do not stand alone; these sorts of services have got to be supported by antenatal and postnatal services. They have got to be public services and they have got to be services that are available to women who cannot afford private health insurance.
The Liberal factor, as I mentioned earlier, has a bent towards the private sector and would be taking any action it could to force women to turn back to private insurance so that the private sector could make a profit. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of women in the ACT who cannot afford that. These women have got to be guaranteed accessible health care for themselves and any children that they are about to have.
To show the support of this Assembly for a strong, viable public health sector which allows women the greatest range of options in childbirth and access to the highest quality of care, it will be necessary for this motion to be passed without amendment. It is a matter of record that the Government members opposite move quickly to amend motions where they feel that their thunder has been stolen, but I would implore the members opposite to have a commonsense view on this issue and show the strongest support possible for this motion. This range of options will narrow and the quality of care will suffer if we as an Assembly do not ensure that the strength of the public health system is reinforced and that no obstetric beds are allowed to be transferred to the private sector.
I repeat that this is an extremely important motion for the women of Canberra, particularly those who cannot afford private insurance. It is obligatory for all members of this Assembly to support this motion.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (10.46): Mr Speaker, I am a little flattered by Mr Berry's remarks in the debate this morning. I am flattered because I think that it says something about the position that the Government has taken with respect to the range of obstetric services in the ACT, that in order to score a point in respect of the Government's decision it was necessary for the Opposition members to actually misrepresent and distort the position that the Government has taken.
I refer briefly in that respect to the comment last night by Mr Berry that the Government was going to sell off the Acton Peninsula. One can see very clearly that the Opposition needs to make those kinds of remarks before they will win any ground on this debate. I am very flattered that that has been the case because I think it confirms the correctness of the decision that we, as a Government, have made.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .