Page 3803 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 October 1991
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He proposes that "a select committee be appointed to inquire into the Government's proposed reduction in bed numbers". The Government does not have any proposed reduction in bed numbers, and Mr Humphries knows it. As a member of the Estimates Committee, he was provided with full information on the present situation in relation to the management of our hospital system. He knows that. What he is trying to do is to divert attention from the truth of the matter. He was supplied, along with other Estimates Committee members, with a full strategy, which has been provided by the Board of Health, for dealing with hospital bed numbers in our hospitals.
If Mr Humphries was being truthful about this process, his motion should really read: "That a select committee be appointed to inquire into the Board of Health's proposed reduction in bed numbers in the Territory". But then, again, the Board of Health has made it clear that there are a number of options that it is considering at the moment, so perhaps it should read: "... proposed options for reductions in bed numbers in our public hospital system". At the same time, it might also mention that it might inquire into what is going on in the negotiations between all of the players in the hospital system to ensure that we have a more efficient hospital system and more efficient financial management. There is none of that.
This is just a stunt - nothing more than that. It is not about a reasonable inquiry into what is going on in the hospital system at all. It is no more than a political stunt. He has roped other members of the Assembly into the same belief. It is a complete and utter waste of time, because, while all of this is going on, the Board of Health will be managing within the health budget. That is what it will be doing. It will be getting on with the job and ignoring this committee, because if it does not get on with the job, of course, our hospital system will fall into another hole. Maybe the hidden agenda is to cause it to fall into another hole.
We have in front of us a motion that has been moved by the discredited former Minister for Health - the Minister who left the hospital system a smoking ruin. This man has been responsible for all that happened in the hospital system over his period as Minister. Let us not forget that this Minister did not bother to rake up the figures on what was going on in his hospital system. Of course, he is very eager to criticise this Government for doing it and he is criticising the figures, but this Government got out there and did it. We are producing the figures, and we will keep monitoring what is going on in our health system, and we will manage it with a tight rein.
The Board of Health is responsible for the management of the hospital system and it will continue to be so. This committee proposal seems to set out to cut across the board's management of the hospital system. Let us not
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