Page 3333 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 September 1990
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This Government is tearing down the public hospital system, as I have said. Of course, we do not know the facts but the admission so far is that they have cut 100 beds out of the public hospital system. That impacts on the people of the ACT. Those are the facts that the people of the ACT are presented with. Their public hospital system is being torn down by the members opposite. And they will pay the price. Look at Mr One Per Cent over here, Mr Collaery. I might mention at this point that there was a recent mock ballot conducted at the Higgins Primary School. The result of that ballot would present an even duller picture for Mr Collaery because the Residents Rally and the Liberal Party shared less than one per cent of the vote. I have to say that Mr Duby was not even mentioned.
Mr Duby: I did not campaign.
MR BERRY: It would not have been a safe place for you to go, I suggest. The fact of the matter is that the members opposite will not be here after 1992. There is no doubt about that. Of course, they are very testy about this position and I understand why they are testy about it. They have committed these atrocities and they are going to be taken to task about the issues. This is the Government that set out to destroy the public hospital system in the ACT and to destroy the education system, while it gives expensive handouts to private schools. The Chief Minister admitted to that today. It gives expensive handouts to private schools while it destroys the public system.
Mr Kaine: I did nothing of the kind.
MR BERRY: This Chief Minister, who complains, in his meanderings not long ago was talking about a 1,000-bed hospital down at the Royal Canberra Hospital site. So where are these people coming from? They are about destroying the public system regardless of the needs of the people of Canberra. They have indicated clearly that they intend to attack public sector jobs. The Chief Minister has indicated that their target is around 3,000 jobs. They have started, I should say, by unloading 60 jobs from a small sector of the health system at Jindalee Nursing Home. The indications are that there will be 60 jobs cut out of the system. That is the first attack that has been announced.
Another attack that has been mentioned, of course, is the Health Minister's attack on nurses in the public sector. He is slavishly following the line produced by his masters in the Priorities Review Board report which talks about priorities for improved public sector management. Slavishly following his masters, the board recommends that nursing staff levels, particularly supervisor and education levels, be adjusted down to better reflect needs. Now, this Minister is getting stuck into the nurses as a result of that - there is no other reason - because he has to follow his masters. If he does not he will not be pre-selected to come back here next time. There will be 60
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