Page 950 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 17 June 1992
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Calvary Hospital Emergency Bay
MS SZUTY: My question without notice is also addressed to the Minister for Health, Mr Berry. Could the Minister please explain the arrangement for patients admitted to the Calvary Hospital emergency bay, including whether specialists are available on call to see patients, and under what conditions and circumstances patients can be admitted to normal wards from the emergency bay?
MR BERRY: The arrangements at Calvary, of course, are different from those that apply at Woden Valley Hospital because they do not deal with the same range of specialities. If somebody is admitted or finds their way to the accident and emergency section and they are unable to be treated for the particular ailment that they have, they will be transferred to Woden Valley Hospital. If they can be admitted to the ward area of Calvary Hospital, they will be. But that is not to say that people who are ill should avoid Calvary Hospital. The accident and emergency section is ideally located to stabilise those who are injured or ill and to give them quality treatment; and where there is a need for transfer to Woden Valley Hospital that can be arranged.
Belconnen Remand Centre
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is to the Attorney-General and it concerns the Belconnen Remand Centre, a centre which was condemned in the "Paying the Price" report as inhumane, overcrowded and outrageously expensive to run. Can the Attorney inform the Assembly of the current cost per detainee per year at the centre? Is it the case that this cost is now in excess of $100,000 per detainee per year - more than twice the cost of keeping a detainee in remand in New South Wales, for example? Is the Minister aware that for a mere $67,000 per year he can obtain for detainees bed and breakfast with a bottle of champagne thrown in at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra, it having the added advantage that detainees would be less likely to want to escape from it than they would be from the Belconnen Remand Centre?
MR CONNOLLY: Yes, Madam Speaker, I am certainly aware of the excellent facilities offered by the Hyatt Hotel. One of their marketing strategies for frequent visitors, I think, is their speedy checkout service. Of course, that points to the absurdity of Mr Humphries's suggestion. It is often thrown into this debate that one could stay at a hotel more cheaply than at a gaol or a remand centre and, of course, that is the case because they do not have to provide security.
The remand centre at Belconnen is not an ideal facility; there is no question about that. It was built in a different era. It was built when there was a view that high technology and high physical security was the appropriate way to deal with remandees. It was designed, as Mr Humphries is probably aware, by the same organisation that designed Kootingal - the infamous and now closed maximum security facility at Long Bay. Indeed, if anyone visits Long Bay and goes through Kootingal they will notice a remarkable similarity to the basic floor plan and layout at the remand centre.
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