Page 2820 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 21 October 1992
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MR BERRY: You people have to be exposed. You cannot be kind and compassionate on the one hand and follow Hewson on the other; they just do not mix. You follow him obediently every step of the way, you follow in his footsteps all the way, and then you pretend that you are kind and compassionate. You have to be exposed for that sort of hypocrisy.
I will leave it there, Madam Speaker. My colleague Mr Connolly will have more to say in relation to legal matters. I think there is an acceptance out there amongst people who understand these issues that the Government is getting on with the job, and that we will continue to get on with the job and provide compassion to people who need to use our health services in the Australian Capital Territory.
MR HUMPHRIES (12.12): Madam Speaker, I have to rise to that. I see Mr Berry scurrying away, but I think he should stay for this. I am a bit confused about the Government's attitude on this matter. The Government speaks with several voices on the matter. Mr Berry is always very keen to tell us how slowly we moved on mental health matters and what shortcomings we had in government, but I can recall Mr Connolly saying some very flattering things about the achievements of the Alliance Government in the area of mental health on the radio a few months ago. The fact of life, Madam Speaker, is that Mr Connolly is right; we have a number of very sound achievements under our belt of which I am extremely proud as former Minister for Health.
I will list just a few of them. We established the dedicated psychiatric care centre at Woden Valley Hospital. We established for the first time an ACT 24-hour crisis service for mentally ill people. We launched perhaps the most important review of mental health legislation in the ACT, the report Balancing Rights. It was commissioned by me in government and came down in November 1990. It was the most important and comprehensive review of legislation in the ACT in this area ever. We proceeded with the plans to deinstitutionalise those with mental health problems, resulting in a transfer of many from places like Bruce Hostel to more appropriate group accommodation in the community and into the suburbs. That is a process that has been continued and accelerated by the Labor Government. We commissioned the construction of the psychiatric units at the Belconnen Remand Centre, which I think, at this stage, are still unopened.
Mr Connolly: No.
MR HUMPHRIES: They have been opened?
Mr Connolly: Yes. That was said in the Estimates Committee.
MR HUMPHRIES: Wonderful news. I think that the focus we gave to mental health matters in the course of the 18 months of the Alliance Government is a matter of considerable pride. Mr Berry scurries off after having told us, "We are taking part in the national program on mental health review and we have set up a committee on mental health". That is all very well as far as it goes; but, frankly, it is not very far.
Madam Speaker, I really have to choke a bit when I hear Mr Berry accuse the Liberal Party of milking this matter politically. Who is the king of milking matters politically in this Assembly? Who was the man who told this Assembly that the casualty section of Woden Valley Hospital was going to close down as
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