Page 388 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 23 February 1993
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I think it is important for us to note that the principle of the board, when it was introduced into this Assembly under Mr Humphries as Minister, was to provide a situation where health was taken out of the political arena. That experiment has failed and has failed miserably. I do not think health can ever be taken out of the political arena because it is such a vital and critical part of what this Assembly delivers for the people of Canberra and what this Government, on behalf of the Assembly, manages for the people of Canberra. It is critical that it be accountable.
I think one of the reasons that the Liberals have taken their bat and ball and gone home is that they really do not want to have to argue this case. The reason they really do not want to have to argue this case is that they are so conscious of the failure of their experiment. Their experiment, with a board of health and an attempt to separate it from the political arena, has been incredibly unsuccessful. That lack of success began at the end of the previous Assembly when the Assembly demanded financial figures for the Board of Health - and with good reason, I might add - because the Assembly had watched a health department blow out its budget. We could go back, if I remember, the best part of a decade looking at how a department had been blowing out its budget under all its different or various names. It was only right that members of the Assembly sought regular reports on the financial status of a major budget item of the Assembly accounting for, as I recall, in the order of 25 per cent of the budget.
Under those circumstances, what we had was a board that simply did not want to follow the instructions of the Assembly. The board did not have to answer to the people of the electorate. They were appointed by the Minister and did not have even that style of accountability. As members fulfilling our role, we do know that no matter how we act we still, every three years on the third week in February, have to account to the people of Canberra on how we have contributed in this Assembly. I remember raising this issue towards the end of the last Assembly and being laughed at by a large number of members who are no longer here.
The failure of the system that the Liberals implemented has indeed brought about the necessity for this Bill. If I were being kind to the members of the Liberal Party who are not with us tonight, I would say that perhaps they are concerned about the undue haste of this particular Bill but part of the reason they are not here is that they have not yet raised a single logical, appropriate objection to this action, because there are none. They have not been able to identify where there is a major problem with this Bill. They have not been able to do more than say this evening, "Oh no, we have another 45" - or 48, or whatever they said the number was - "amendments to be moved by the Minister for Health just this afternoon. This is terrible. What are we going to be able to do about it?", instead of just reading and realising that in fact it was the same amendment to the Bill moved 45 times.
A very easy look at it would have indicated that in fact it was because of the Bill that we passed last week, the Poisons and Drugs Act. Had we put these amendments in the Poisons and Drugs Act last week we would have pre-empted this Bill which would have been entirely inappropriate. So what is being done by the Minister this evening is a perfectly logical move. It is very simple, requiring very little brain power; nevertheless, it has seemed to cause a great deal of trouble. It was Mr De Domenico who interjected in that way. It seemed to cause a great deal of trouble for those not prepared to study what was in front of them before opening their mouths. Part of the reason, I think, is that there are times when the mouth seems to operate significantly faster than the brain.
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