Page 3910 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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MR DUBY: Well, that is life, Mr Wood.
Mr Wood: No, it is death, I am afraid.
MR DUBY: Yes, I will pay that one.
Mr Wood: It was not meant to be droll; it was meant to be very serious.
MR DUBY: If it turns out that all ambulances are being utilised, Mr Wood, on ambulance services - - -
Mr Berry: All two or all four?
MR DUBY: I can assure you it is as many as there are; it is immaterial how many we are talking about. If they are all being utilised and someone requires an ambulance, that is just the way of the world; there is nothing much we can do about it. Would you want us to have reserve ambulances and crews of, say, five, six or seven?
Mr Wood: But four is supposed to give a margin.
MR DUBY: Four is supposed to give a margin, but will you accept also that the time may come when the four are operational and are being used and a fifth is required? Of course, you will.
Mr Wood: You have to provide good services to the public.
MR DUBY: And that is exactly what we do here in the Territory. I know, of course, that the cardiac response times have come down dramatically since they were measured in 1989. They are now down to that seven-minute level that has been mentioned by the Minister. But for non-cardiac requirements for ambulances the response time, I believe, is in the order of some 19 minutes. I think that that is a very good time and it compares very favourably with other cities of this kind in Australia.
This matter of public importance is a farce. The Government has provided adequate ambulance cover in the ACT. Naturally, we would like it to be better. We would like it to be the best possible, as good as possible. We all want that; no-one is disputing that. But to say that there is not adequate ambulance cover in the ACT could be regarded by anyone who knows the facts as a joke.
MR CONNOLLY (4.11): Mr Speaker, it is very disappointing to hear the Minister for Urban Services say, parrot-like, the Government's usual response: this matter of public importance is a farce. We have heard that regularly in this place. The usual Government response to an Opposition MPI is to attempt to trivialise the matter the Opposition is raising. But there could be few more important issues for the community of Canberra than to raise the issue of adequate or inadequate ambulance cover in this Territory.
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