Page 3656 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 20 October 1993
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MR BERRY: Here she goes again. She says, "You do not have any beds". But we have that full range of services outside of the hospital system which works to keep people out of the hospital system. Of course, what we will continue to do is to ensure that, as much as possible, these services are provided to the mentally ill in order that we do not have a need for more and more beds. We do not want to go back to the 1950s, when people were more or less incarcerated in old-fashioned institutions.
If that is what you want, if you want thousands of beds and people incarcerated in old-fashioned institutions, you are looking at the wrong fellow, because you are not going to get it from me. We are about providing a comprehensive service which includes services within the hospital system, including beds. We are lucky that we do not have any of those old-fashioned services that have been provided in the States and we do - - -
Mr Humphries: Like beds.
MR BERRY: Mr Humphries intervenes with, "Like beds". The old-fashioned services which I was talking about, of course, are those old-fashioned institutions which he knows full well about. They are gone and they are not going to happen here. It is not an issue about providing all of your mental health services by way of beds. It is about a comprehensive service, and that is what we provide.
Mr Cornwell: I take a point of order, Madam Speaker. I refer you to standing order 118(a), which states that answers to questions without notice "shall be concise and confined to the subject matter of the question". This answer has been going on for 11 minutes now.
MADAM SPEAKER: It is purely a question of judgment. Mr Berry is answering the question. Mr Berry may proceed to answer the question. In my judgment, "concise" may well take 20 minutes on some points, particularly if the Minister is continually interrupted. Please proceed, Mr Berry.
Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Madam Speaker, I would like to draw your attention to the final sentence of standing order 118, which says that the Speaker may direct a member to terminate an answer if, in your opinion, he has had a sufficient opportunity to answer the question. You cannot tell me that the Minister, in 12 minutes, has not had an opportunity to answer the question. I would ask you to exercise your power under that standing order.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Kaine, I am exercising my judgment. Mr Berry, please proceed.
MR BERRY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. As I say, if we did not have those comprehensive services which are provided outside of the hospital system, then it might well be fair criticism that there are not enough beds; but we do provide those extra services. It is always easy to criticise health systems, not only in the ACT but right across the world, for the number of beds. I do not accept the criticism. We do the utmost in our hospital system within the resources that we have, and we live in the real world. That is why we have the number of beds that we have now.
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