Page 673 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 May 1992
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All of that information is in the Chronicle story, on the front page; so at least it is available to the community, but it ought also be available to anyone who reads the Hansard. We have, in fact, taken an initiative on this to attempt to free up some of that Commonwealth money, and it is an ACT initiative which has support from other States. To simply say that we should be spending more money is not a very helpful Liberal Party comment in the context that you are always telling us to spend less in the abstract, yet always more in the particular.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (4.27), in reply: As Mr Humphries said, the Government will be working hard to ensure that our share of funding from the Commonwealth improves. As was said in my statement, the ACT gets about $50m for the Medicare grant, which, of course, falls far short of the $156m or so that it costs to run our hospital system. Undoubtedly, the level of funding in real terms from the Commonwealth has fallen since 1983. All States are aware of that and the Commonwealth is aware of it as well. What we have to do is to encourage the Commonwealth to cough up some more money. At the same time, we all have to go through this painful restructuring process which is currently partially completed in the ACT. Those factors are issues which are in my mind constantly and they are issues which will be raised in the context of renegotiating funding with the Commonwealth. The Liberals need not trouble themselves about that because it will be done with vigour.
Mrs Carnell asked me what gem I might be able to produce to answer her question about why the Labor Party favours a strong public hospital system.
Mrs Carnell: That was not the question.
MR BERRY: I told her that I would tell her and I am about to. It is clear that the Liberals favour a privately dominated health system. That is the rhetoric. It comes through all the time. That is the rhetoric, time after time after time. Build another private hospital. Force people into expensive private insurance. Force them into expensive private hospital beds and put the poor people in the public hospitals. Just save the public hospital system for the poor people.
Mr Kaine: That is what Medicare is about, isn't it? To take care of the poor people. Don't you want that?
MR BERRY: Medicare is about taking care of all Australians, Mr Kaine. It is not there to make your business mates rich. It is about providing equality of access.
Debate interrupted.
ADJOURNMENT
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! It being 4.30 pm, I propose the question:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr Berry: I require the question to be put forthwith without debate.
Question resolved in the negative.
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