Page 237 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 1991
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people in Calwell - closed for a shift. Then it was 30 January, Dickson; 1 February, Dickson; 3 February, Dickson; 4 February, Calwell.
Those are very serious matters to bring before this Assembly. The Opposition quite rightly introduces them as a matter of public importance, and what is the response from the Government? "Current absence factors are relevant to day to day deployment of staff". I am sure it is very comforting to be told that if you ring up for an ambulance! It is just not satisfactory to have stations not opening. We have, as a result of the agreement, this clear goal of four stations available 24 hours a day, and yet the Government seems unable to meet that. I am told that it is fair to compare the staff and rostering arrangements of the Ambulance Service with another emergency service - the Fire Brigade. Yet, of the eight fire stations in Canberra that operate, again, 24 hours a day, I am told that it is unheard of for a station to be closed because of rostering arrangements. How is that so? Why is there this difference? Why is it possible for one emergency service to constantly provide a coverage and another emergency service to so regularly be closed and unavailable?
It is just not good enough for the Government to give these waffly statements and assure us that they have a good policy. It is a bit like the Residents Rally education policy - the policy is fine; it is the implementation that has a bit of a problem. It is a bit like King Canute's policy that the tide should not come in - it was a fine policy, but it did not bear any relationship to reality. That seems to be the situation with this policy on ambulance stations that the Minister keeps coming into the house and telling us about.
The people of Canberra are simply not satisfied. They hear these allegations from the Opposition - allegations which remain unanswered. We have not had a denial from the Minister that those stations were closed on those dates. I wonder whether we will get a denial from Mr Jensen - or are they acknowledging that that is indeed the case? As Mr Berry said, Mr Jensen should be particularly concerned because the Calwell station figures five times on this list of closed stations.
Clearly the people of the southern area of Canberra are particularly concerned to learn that on five occasions in a month the ambulance station that they assume is there - they see it as they drive past, they assume that it is serviced 24 hours a day and they regard it as a piece of security should it be needed - was inoperative. On this issue rhetoric and junior debating points are not enough of a response from the Government; it is simply not adequate. What we need is action to ensure that this service is available, as is set out in the Government policy in that agreement, and as is assumed by the people of Canberra.
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