Page 1819 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 19 August 1992
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MR BERRY: I am not sure about that. If somebody in Victoria criticises, the Liberals feel free to get up and criticise them; but they have to look at their own consciences on this issue as well. There are some serious implications for the ACT in what is proposed by the Federal Liberals and I think that we need to remind the people of the ACT of that as much as possible.
I see myself as a caretaker of the nation's capital, and I guess everybody here would see the nation's capital as one of its most precious assets. I will stand and defend it, like the Liberals; but I will do it in good faith. If you want to talk about the One Nation package and the benefits that will flow to the people of the ACT, I am happy to do that; but I want you to talk honestly about what you are going to do to our health system, what you are going to do in relation to the people of the ACT - - -
Mrs Carnell: Fix it.
MR BERRY: You are not going to fix it, Mrs Carnell. You are going to do something else to it that probably does not bear repeating in this place. What you are going to do - - -
Mr Kaine: This is a family show, Minister.
MR BERRY: Yes, that is right; it is a family show. The leader of the Liberals has said that you are going to drive people into private insurance. You are going to force them into top cover - - -
Mr Humphries: We are going to make it affordable for them. That is what we are going to do.
MR BERRY: You are going to force them into top cover at $46 a week.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Mr Berry! You are getting off the subject again.
MR BERRY: I respond to loud interjections. You are going to force them into expensive - $46 a week - private hospital insurance. The big beneficiaries will be the private hospitals and the private insurers. The losers will be the people of the ACT. You cannot keep walking away from that. I also have to ask at the same time, "Who is going to pay the bill?". The taxpayer is going to pay the bill because the Federal Liberals are saying that they will give them a tax concession for it. That is what you are going to do.
Unquestionably, Mr Deputy Speaker, it is easy for out-of-towners to take a few cheap political points at our expense, but at the same time I do not think we ought to be too crushable about the issue. We have the job of defending the people of the ACT, and we will do that. We have to understand that there are politicians in other places who do not get many votes from the ACT, and I guess that is why, from time to time, there is some criticism of the place. I do not like cheap political points. I do not like cheap political points when you are not in a position to defend yourself. You can defend yourself in this place, if you are talking about the political points that we take, very easily, off the Liberal Party, because they are a bit of a gift; but if these sorts of accusations are made in other places it is very hard to defend the people of the ACT. But we are committed to the defence of the ACT.
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