Page 4540 - Week 15 - Thursday, 22 November 1990
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contribution to the Ambulance Fund. There is nothing wrong with the mandatory levy; but you have to produce the services, and you have not done it.
Mr Humphries: Yes, we have.
MR BERRY: You have not. Ambulance stations are closed - they are closed today. The fact of the matter is that Labor moved to do something, and this Minister sat on his hands for almost a year. We are having another committee of inquiry almost a year after the last one, when nothing was done. Nothing was done by this Minister, and he even admitted that he did not know the guts of the inquiry that was held last time.
Mr Humphries: I did not.
MR BERRY: You said it on the radio. On the evidence presented, the Ministry of Health is shown to have a massive turnover of employees, which must occur at great expense to the taxpayer and the efficiency of our health system.
Mr Humphries: Prove it.
MR BERRY: Did you implement the recommendations of the inquiry? No, you did not, and you could not relate them.
Mr Humphries: That does not mean that I did not read it.
MR BERRY: You were covering it up then, were you? Were you covering it up?
Mr Humphries: So what? Can you relate them?
MR BERRY: I did not see it. I was not the Minister; you were. The fact of the matter is that the Government's decision on the hospital system has meant that there will be a significant cut in services for the people of Canberra and, of course, the people of the ACT will not cop that. They will remember it and, of course, we will end up with a different result at the next election because of this.
It might be that a political party could sit back with a smug look on its face and say, "That is good because they are making it easier for us". What I am concerned about is the mess that the Labor Party will inherit after the next election. This Government is set on the total destruction of our health and education systems. That is clear - and it does not even know that it is doing it. That is how stupid they are. They do not even know that they are doing it. The fact of the matter is that they are not acting in the interests of the people of the ACT; the only interests they are acting in are those of their business mates and, when they look after those who are not attached to the business sector, they are looking after themselves.
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