Page 5157 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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It has to be said that this piece of legislation presents a real danger to the people of the ACT when it comes to delivery of public hospital services, and that is why the Australian Labor Party in opposition has set out to attempt to expose the Government in order to prevent it from cutting back on those services.
If the Minister is game, he ought to be saying, "Yes, we will include all those services that were listed under the old Act. We will include them all, and we adopt the amendment which has been moved by the Labor Opposition". But he will not do that because it ties him to the continuing delivery of a list of services which have been delivered to the people of the ACT in the past. What he would say is that his proposal provides flexibility. Yes, that is right, flexibility - flexibility to privatise. That is what it boils down to. I am not fooled by your legislation, Mr Humphries and Mr Kaine; I am not fooled at all. The people of the ACT will not be fooled either, and I think that if this Bill is allowed to pass there will be more battles as services are withdrawn.
Let us not forget that already services to the people of the ACT are being withdrawn under this so-called Liberal Government opposite, with the support of the Residents Rally and other members of the Government. Waiting lists in the public hospital system are increasing; there is more pain and suffering in the community, particularly amongst the poor; and those people opposite are the ones who are responsible for that. They are the ones who have withdrawn services from the people of the ACT. They are the ones who will withdraw community health services to the aged in Weston Creek, and in other places, I suspect. Irrespective of what Craig Duby promises about the Melba Health Centre, it is still an issue for consideration by the Government. Mr Gary Humphries has given no commitment that that centre will stay open.
That is why I say to you, Mr Speaker, that the way that this legislation that has been drafted allows this Minister and this Government to persist with its policy direction of rationalising services to the people of the ACT, withdrawing them, and handing them over to the private sector. Of course, the end result is that the community health services are inadequately dealt with, and community health declines. But that is not something that they are concerned about; that is not the constituency that this Government represents. It has never pretended to represent working class people; it represents only its big business mates. This is another example of big business putting pressure on conservative government to rationalise the delivery of hospital services - to leave open the door, if you like, for a cut in services to the community. The Labor Opposition will not accept that. It will fight to retain top quality services for the community and it will continue to fight while ever there are threats to those services.
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