Page 3669 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 October 1991
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votes. The reality is that you are put in a position, particularly with health, where you are going to have to do something, take some action and look very carefully at community nursing as one area within the health portfolio.
At question time, I attempted to ask a supplementary question, and Mr Humphries asked about the control of the health budget. Of course, we were told that we will find out about that before too long. The question still remains in our minds: Who is controlling the health budget? Will there be a Berry blow-out? Will services be retained at least at the same level? Even the same level is not good enough because, as far as community nursing and health promotion go, we need to be increasing our funding and support so that in the long term we can reduce our expenditure in our public hospital sector.
The public hospital sector still has this problem - I will move back to the issue that I raised about cardio-thoracic surgery: What are ordinary people supposed to do when they believe that they have the right to surgery of this nature and to have their spouse accompany them through a very, very difficult time? When they have the right to that support, they ought not to have to fight for it.
The particular case to which I refer requires some compassion and action. The poor woman in this case is now facing further surgery at St Vincent's Hospital. She has to go back for another appointment, and she has been told that she had better go down there by bus. I would like to know how many of the health officials who use the travel allowance that we saw in the budget estimates consider it appropriate to travel by bus, let alone when somebody has gone through such major surgery. The risks in those circumstances are great, and it is entirely inappropriate.
I understand that it is much cheaper for the 300 or so cardio-thoracic patients a year to have their surgery taken care of in Sydney rather than having a cardio-thoracic unit in the ACT. But then it is appropriate that we, as a community, wear the extra expenses associated with that. It is appropriate that our elderly who are not as well off as others get at least an equal deal. That is what social justice is about and what the Labor Party claims to be about. We know what you claim to be about as far as these things go. Some of us like it; they are good claims. Now deliver.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health and Minister for Sport) (3.22): It gives me some pleasure to rise in this debate because what Mr Moore has said is way off the mark. To put on the record an accurate assessment of what has happened in health, Mr Moore should have been talking about some of the things that happened under the previous Government. A lot of that is old news. Since taking government in June, this Government has been hard at work repairing the damage which was done to our health system by the former Government. I seem to recall that Mr Moore was critical of
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