Page 5261 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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The situation that presents itself to the Assembly is of a Minister who is about to pull the teeth out of legislation which was properly designed to ensure that quality public hospital services are assisted by the medical profession. What he has set out to do is to ensure that the members of the medical profession can do as they like, as they have done in the past. That is what has happened.
It has been proposed in consultation between Mr Moore and me that if the Minister was genuine he would say, "Well, okay, we will give an operative date to these particular clauses somewhere a little down the track, say, six months, to give the doctors a bit of a chance to get their act into gear and to prove themselves"; but, no, no, no - - -
Mr Moore: Which is the time in which they have said they will do it.
MR BERRY: Is it? Right. So, we could give them six months to prove themselves. No, the Minister is not interested in that either, because this Minister is not interested in public hospital services. He is not interested in quality assurance. All he is interested in is a cheap public hospital service for the ordinary people of Canberra. For those people that can afford other things, of course, it will be entirely different under this administration. What the members opposite have to accept is that this Minister is about to withdraw these very important quality assurance provisions.
It is appropriate that doctors are accountable. It is also appropriate that - - -
Mr Kaine: Have you lost your bit of paper again, Wayne? That is three times tonight. You are in deep trouble, old chap!
MR BERRY: No; it is all right. What I will bring up later on - on the quality assurance issue - is the situation of a doctor who was still operating in another State and who, if the legislation in that State had been strong enough, would have been prevented from practising.
What the Minister, Mr Humphries, is doing is ensuring that doctors do not have to regulate the provision of quality services for the Territory. He will ensure that they are able to run their own race. He is not even game to wave the big stick at the doctors and say, "I will legislate in six months if you have not got your act into gear". He is prepared to take them at face value straightaway because they are a powerful lobby in this community, but he is not prepared to take the word of 46,000 people who complain about the condition of their hospital services. He is not prepared to take notice of the thousands of people in the Territory who are concerned about their schools; but he is prepared to fold, like a pack of cards, in front of some lobbying from some strong professionals amongst the
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