Page 2815 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 14 August 1990
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steps to follow, and when those steps follow obviously governments have to consider carefully what is in the interests of - Mr Acting Speaker, I have had almost continuous interjection. I seek your intervention.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: Would you stop your interjections, Mr Berry. Let the member speak. I do not want a four-way conversation here. We are listening to Mr Humphries.
MR HUMPHRIES: Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker. It is obvious decisions have to be made, and one decision this Government has taken has been to table this document in this place for the benefit and interest of members here, for their perusal and understanding. I think that is an appropriate step. If Mr Berry begrudges that much effort, I think Mr Berry ought to realise that he does not really have a clear understanding of what this place is all about.
I want to express what really amounts to a personal view, at this point, as to why the ACT does need a clinical school. I think it is important, first of all, to state that the particular time context in which this debate is occurring is very important. We have the opportunity presented by a major commitment on the part of the Government to the restructuring of our hospital system. We have a major opportunity, in that context, to create something better for Canberra - to create something which will permanently augment the quality of health care in Canberra. That is what the hospital redevelopment debate has been all about, and that is what this debate about a university hospital is all about.
I have no desire, as Minister for Health, to go to my colleagues and seek another X million dollars for another fancy piece of real estate somewhere in town for the sake of showing that we have got a you-beaut, wonderful, gold plated university hospital or clinical school. I think there are many other things we could be spending our money on which would attract a lot more kudos. We are not talking about kudos. We are talking about contributing to the quality of health care in Canberra. That is what this is all about. If the university hospital contributes to improving the quality of health care in Canberra and brings it up to standards which are applicable elsewhere in this country - and we should make it very clear that at this stage we are in many respects not up to those standards - then I will support it. And I will expect the support of every other member of this chamber - far-sighted or not - because I believe that is important if we are going to make a real effort to improve Canberra's general health scene.
So I say it is important to do that, to attract that quality to Canberra. It is also important to be able to provide in Canberra the sort of environment where specialists, in particular, will want to come and make a contribution to Canberra because they see an attraction in doing so. Frankly, those attractions are not purely monetary and they are not purely provided by the atmosphere
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