Page 229 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 23 February 1994
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Hospitals
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (5.54), in reply: One could not let that sort of foolishness go by without a response. It is truly foolishness. It shows the sort of concern that the people opposite have for our very high-quality public hospital system. There is no question that there are fewer beds in the ACT than there once were, and it is true that there will be fewer and that the average length of stay will fall. The doctor friends of the Liberals opposite have been the cause of a lot of the waiting lists, and not only because of their recent strike. Waiting lists are often used as a political measure within the health field; that is true.
Mr Humphries: You used them all the time when you were in opposition, Wayne.
MR BERRY: I am talking about the health professions. They use them too. You cannot look at those measures by themselves; you have to look at throughput. Save for the losses of efficiency that were caused by the doctors strike, we will be putting through a number of people in the ACT which is consistent with the size of the place. We have no fewer difficulties than they have in other places.
Mr Kaine did not know about this when he was the Chief Minister. His Minister for Health, Mr Humphries, did not know either, so could not tell him. Mr Humphries, when asked questions about what was going on in health, said, "I am not going to devote resources to finding out". So Trevor never knew what was going on in the hospitals before he was thrown out. I am pleased that, even though his perception of the health system is wrong, he at least now has a perception. That is much more than he had before.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Assembly adjourned at 5.57 pm
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