Page 2648 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 1993
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It could be funded holus-bolus by half the amount of money that Mr Berry is pouring in in this year alone. We do not know, as I said, how much money is going to be spent next year. Madam Speaker, we will see whether people opposite are prepared to put their money where their mouth is, are prepared to vote in the same way that they voted last year when we discussed the moral issue of what we are talking about today. But, on the financial aspects, let us see - - -
Mr Lamont: That is what you are discussing today.
MR DE DOMENICO: No, I have not mentioned that at all, Mr Lamont.
Mr Lamont: No, no, and that is why what you have said is wrong. You are hiding behind a mishmash of information.
MR DE DOMENICO: You have your opportunity to stand up and contribute to this debate. On the financial side, Mr Berry, you have said nothing in this house today that makes us believe you, but that is no different from what you do all the time in this place.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (11.36): Madam Speaker, I support choice. That is not news to anybody in this house. I support the right of women to choose to have an abortion. I also support the right of the family planning clinic to provide whatever services it sees fit as a private organisation or a non-government organisation. That means that I also support the right of any private company, private health facility or whatever to provide any legally appropriate or legally able service that they choose to provide. I also support level playing fields. I support the fact that private organisations, non-government organisations, should compete in a marketplace that is fair. I support the great need for abortion facilities - I am happy to say the word - for women who need them. I also support the right of women to have appropriate counselling in making that decision. What I do not support is government money being spent to prop up a private operation. We have here - - -
Mr Connolly: Subsidies to pharmacies have to go. Stop the pharmaceutical subsidies propping up pharmacies. Dear, oh dear!
MRS CARNELL: There are none. I think it is really important to make this clear. What we have is Mr Berry giving taxpayers' money to a private organisation. I also support very much the right of government to maximise the potential of any assets that they own. If the Government wants to refurbish the City Health Centre, then that is exactly what the Government should do, and the Government should do that with the view of maximising the potential of an asset.
Mr Lamont: Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order. Could Mrs Carnell explain, then, whether there is a difference between what this is and whether or not VMOs are able to conduct a private practice? I want to see whether it is the same thing.
MADAM SPEAKER: I do not think that is a point of order, Mr Lamont. I will not uphold that. Carry on, Mrs Carnell.
MRS CARNELL: If the Government wants to spend $100,000 refurbishing an asset, that is an appropriate thing for a government to do. What the Government then does, to my knowledge, in every other circumstance is either use the facilities themselves for publicly-run, publicly-funded operations or alternatively
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