Page 2641 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 1993
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This gives any doctor or medical clinic the right to carry out this procedure on their premises. Pregnancy terminations can therefore now be legally carried out in a range of facilities, both government and non-government, in the ACT. We are aware of the changing nature of hospitals in Australia. No longer are they institutions where the length of stay of patients is an option.
I turn now to the issue of waiting lists. Mr Humphries would have it that women seeking a termination would go on a waiting list for day surgery in a public hospital. That is what Mr Humphries would have, or else force them to go interstate.
Mrs Carnell: You have waiting lists for day surgery.
MR BERRY: There is a waiting list for day surgery.
Mr De Domenico: How long is the waiting list for day surgery?
MR BERRY: It is part of the overall waiting list, you dope. We are all aware of the changing nature of hospitals in Australia. No longer are they institutions where the length of stay of patients is an option, where patients go for minor procedures. The pressure on hospitals across the country and the legitimate move to better care for the non-acutely ill in the community has radically changed the nature of hospitals.
More and more day procedures are being done, and more and more options are available outside the hospitals for a range of services which were once the province of hospitals. That is the move. Hospital based terminations are far less relevant today than they were in the past. Women who choose to terminate their pregnancies need supportive, safe and confidential surroundings, not an acute illness care institution. That is what Mr Humphries wants for the ACT - an acute care facility. So does Mrs Carnell, it seems, which is quite different from what she proposed earlier on. The issue of funding pregnancy terminations is one which has been debated in many forums. Since 1974 terminations have been funded under the Health Insurance Act, having been recognised as a legitimate medical service. Therefore the vast bulk of payment for terminations is already funded by the public purse.
This Government has an obligation to the citizens of Canberra to provide a range of services which are not provided by the private sector - services which are too costly for the individual or for which society as a whole accepts responsibility, for example, the education of our children. There are services which provide for small sections of our community - for example, specialised cancer treatment facilities, which would cause an intolerable burden on those who have to access these services if they had to bear the real cost. The Government has an obligation to look after the interests of all of its citizens, including those whose cause would not necessarily gain majority support in the community.
People pay taxes in order to support those services that the government elected by the people offers to its citizens. Taxes are not paid selectively to support one service and be withheld from another. The people elect a government to make these decisions. People who have no children pay taxes to support the education system. People may choose to send their children to private schools, but they still
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