Page 4218 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
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Mr Deputy Speaker, I think it would be criminal for this former Minister to go through that process again. He has to wear the responsibility of those failures in the Ambulance Service. He has to accept that the Labor Government in this Assembly has moved quickly to repair the damage done by the Alliance Government. They are facts of life that we all have to live with. What it boils down to is that this Minister is seeking to castigate an ambulance officer who was - - -
Mr Humphries: You are the Minister actually, Wayne, not me.
MR BERRY: My apologies. You correctly draw that to my attention. At this late stage in the day one can be forgiven for making even large mistakes - and referring to Mr Humphries as the Minister was a major mistake. I withdraw that unequivocally.
Mr Humphries attempts to drag this matter on and do further damage to the Ambulance Service. I, for one, will not be assisting in that regard. I think the matter is a management matter. It has been properly investigated internally by management, as is properly the case in disciplinary matters or matters which could result in disciplinary action. The then acting director of the Ambulance Service was satisfied that everything that could be done was done. The Government has taken all the necessary action to repair the damage done by the former Government. We are still working on that. There is more work to be done, and we will continue to pursue those issues.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition): I seek leave to make a statement on this matter, Mr Deputy Speaker.
Leave granted.
MR KAINE: Mr Deputy Speaker, we have just seen an interesting exercise in evasion. The failed Minister for Health has been hoist with his petard. The issue is not so much what the ambulance officer did or did not do. The question is: Why did the Minister not put the information on the table in question time when he was asked the question? Mr Berry, in his usual evasive fashion, refused to answer the question - to the point where Mr Humphries had to go through FOI procedures to get the very information that the Minister should have made available.
Once Mr Humphries did that, what was Mr Berry's approach? He then produced all the documentation that he should have produced in answer to a question from the floor of the house. Only when he was flushed out and Mr Humphries got the information through other means - only then - did the Minister come along and start quoting extensively from documentation. That is the point at issue.
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