Page 5176 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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Ms Follett: They are the Government.
MR BERRY: They seem entirely comfortable with the Government's philosophical position. There are claims that they are the Government. One finds it a little difficult to work out which end of the dog the tail is on, but that is not surprising when one considers the members opposite.
This is an important amendment that has been proposed by the Australian Labor Party. It should be supported by the Government; it is a great disappointment that it will not be.
MR MOORE (12.01): Mr Speaker, Mr Berry has invited me to explain why it is that I will not be supporting this amendment, and I think it appropriate that I take just a couple of minutes to do so. Philosophically, I do believe that, in fact, it would be a far better way to go. But, we have had a problem with health administration, health advice, health boards and hospital boards over the last two years and, in a practical sense, to now introduce a system which would demand rearranging, yet again, any health board or hospital board would, I think, be entirely inappropriate.
So at this stage I make it clear to Mr Berry that if, when he becomes Minister for Health - if that is what happens - he wishes to make this amendment, then I will be quite happy to support it, because philosophically I support the notion of having the broad community better represented rather than having the risk of people being appointed to the board as "yes" people or people with a particular interest that happens to suit that of the Minister. I say that, being careful, at this stage, to clarify that in no way do I mean that to point to this particular Minister, or to the individuals appointed. I want to make that quite clear; that is not what I am saying. However, for practical reasons, I find it difficult, at this stage, to support the amendment put by Mr Berry even though I believe that, in fact, it is a good amendment.
I would also like to comment on the notion of not knowing exactly where the dog has its tail. It seems to me that, when you have seen a dog chasing its own tail and running around in circles, the image is far more appropriate for this Alliance Government.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (12.03): Mr Speaker, Mr Berry did twist slightly one of the points I made in my remarks. He said that the Opposition, when they were in government, did not have the chance to appoint a half-women board of health or hospitals board, or something of that kind, and that is quite true. But the point I made was that Mr Berry had plenty of other opportunities to appoint half-women membership on other boards created by the Labor Government, and he took no opportunity to do that. He had many such opportunities; he
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