Page 4537 - Week 15 - Thursday, 22 November 1990
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Mr Duby: Money, money, money.
MR STEVENSON: What is it? Money, money, money; that is right. We simply lack the pieces of paper to denote the exchange. So, linear - - -
Mr Humphries: You are absolutely right.
MR STEVENSON: It is interesting that Mr Humphries said that I am absolutely right. We have everything but the pieces of paper we need to denote the exchange. It is a sad situation that people cannot get around their mirth and actually look at exactly what that means, rather than just pretending that it is not there, that it does not happen.
When someone gives me a sensible explanation of where the major problem is, other than that, I will be most interested to hear it.
MR SPEAKER: The question is that the - - -
Mr Berry: Oh, no, no, no.
MR SPEAKER: You are a bit slow. I almost beat you there.
MR BERRY (5.06): Mr Humphries asked me to give some instances where the Government had cut back services. Off the top of my head I know of 20-odd obstetric beds which have been cut out of the system and handed over to the private sector. That is not a bad example.
Mr Humphries: Where?
MR BERRY: You approved them for John James.
I should refer Mr Humphries to page 446 of budget paper No. 5. One of the key performance indicators for the Royal Canberra and Woden Valley hospitals is the numbers on the waiting lists. He cannot deny that. If you can keep them out of the hospitals, of course your costs will fall - and that is what this Government is about. The record of the Labor Party stands clear - the lowest waiting list numbers over a period of five years, on the figures.
Mr Duby: Is that for plastic surgery?
MR BERRY: For all levels. There were 993 in September 1989. That is the lowest in a period of seven years. There you go. So Labor proved itself as a good manager of the hospital system. What the Liberals have done, with the help of the Residents Rally, is cut back services. Your reaction to bad management of the hospital was to cut back services and hit the people. That is what you did, and that is why your waiting lists have gone through the roof. Keep them out of the hospitals; keep them sick and at home - that is what you are on about.
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