Page 3659 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 20 October 1993
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MR STEVENSON: It is taking a long time, I know. I would have finished a long time ago if there had been a little bit of shush in the place. If there is not an apparent address to forward the parcel or envelope on to or back to, they have to send it to Sydney, which is the only place where it can be opened. Could you also look at the possibility of establishing that principle in the ACT to short-circuit the time involved in forwarding parcels to Sydney?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, my portfolio responsibilities do not extend to either the Customs Service or Australia Post, so strictly speaking I am quite sure that you would rule the question completely out of order. However, I think that, in view of what I surmise to be a business interest in this matter that Mr Stevenson is putting forward, I will make some inquiries and, if I can elicit any information, I will certainly pass it on. But I do want to make the point that the question is out of order and that I should be under no obligation to answer it.
Woden Valley Hospital - Waiting List
MR KAINE: Madam Speaker, I direct a question, through you, to the Minister for Health. I know that he likes to paint the big picture; but this time I would like him to focus on the little picture, if he would not mind, and specifically answer this question. Minister, last year you closed the Woden Valley Hospital for four weeks and the waiting list expanded by 700. This year you are closing the Woden Valley Hospital for six weeks. Given that you are expecting the same level of activity this year as last, one would expect the waiting list to increase by about 1,000 or 1,050 after the hospital reopens. Would you agree with that figure? If not, do you have some better figure by which you expect the waiting list to blow out?
MR BERRY: I do not think there is anything new in the news that there will be pressure on waiting lists in the ACT. There has been since self-government.
Mrs Carnell: Since you took over.
MR BERRY: No. The list has continually grown since self-government. It doubled - - -
Mrs Carnell: It got worse this year.
MR BERRY: Madam Speaker, we can do without the interjections. I do not mind answering Mrs Carnell's questions. If you want, I can stand here for a few minutes and answer the interjections. From my recollection, in about September 1989 - and I do not have the figures in front of me - there were about 900 to 1,000 waiting for surgery, according to the form that we used in those days to measure the numbers. Later on, of course, the Government changed, and under Mr Humphries the number doubled - - -
Mr Humphries: I do not think it did.
MR BERRY: It did. It went up to about 1,800 by the time the Alliance Government ran out of puff and - - -
Mr Humphries: So what is it now?
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