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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 2708 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

On the day of the debate here in the Assembly - I believe it was the day of the Jindalee debate - not a lot was said about salaried doctors because, as I remember, the nurses were all here and the debate was mainly taken up with Jindalee. You can imagine my dismay and disappointment when the same question was raised with Mrs Carnell and her response was that it was her preferred option that they continue to bulk-bill. That was the first time I had heard those words, and it put me into a great deal of shock. Perhaps I was a little naive, but my understanding was that it would be painless and that the government health centres would continue to have the doctors and would continue to bulk-bill.

Mr Berry: Too trusting.

MR OSBORNE: Yes, I am too trusting, Mr Berry, but I am learning. I conferred about that with my soul mate, Mr Moore - I got a nod from Michael up there - and his understanding was similar to mine. That forced me into a situation where I was very disappointed. I do not ask for a great deal, Mr Speaker. The first thing I ask for is honesty and truth and to be told everything, and then I will sit back and make my decision. Unfortunately, in relation to this issue I was not afforded that courtesy. I was not given all of the information. Whether that was an oversight on Mrs Carnell's part I am not prepared to say. I certainly will not accuse her of being a liar, because I think I have a good relationship with Mrs Carnell. However, I was disappointed on this one issue.

I may well have supported the Government on this issue if they had shown me at the time that they were going to take care of low income earners and people who used the facilities. But I was not given the courtesy of being able to make my mind up with all the information in front of me. That forced me into a situation where I had to move this motion:

That this Assembly rejects the Government's announced decision to remove salaried practitioner services from community health centres unless the health centres are managed as 100 per cent bulk-billing practices for general practitioner services.

I was accused in an editorial, or rather in a press release from Mrs Carnell's office - I am sorry; I cannot quite differentiate between the two - of being the sole reason for the closure of the health centres. I must admit that I did chuckle at that editorial. I moved my motion because I was disappointed that I had not been told the truth.

I spoke to Mr Connolly last week about this issue, and I had a briefing yesterday morning with Mr Moore by someone from Health. I was made aware of the problems with re-employing the salaried doctors. My understanding is that they have all agreed to voluntary redundancies, which basically makes it impossible for us to bring them back. That is the crucial point, as Mr Connolly said. This was all done after this Assembly, by 10 votes to seven, I believe it was, supported my motion, which runs contrary to what the Government has done. We are now in a situation where we have lost or are about to lose all our salaried doctors. There is no real prospect, I am led to believe, of rehiring any salaried doctors in the near future, so we find ourselves in a real bind here. I admit that I may have acted hastily when I moved my motion; but, as I said, I was reacting and expressing my bitterness towards the information I received.

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