Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (17 April) . . Page.. 983 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

There has been no statement from them saying, "What we did was stupid. We made a mistake; we realise that. We got caught". Instead, they appeared embarrassed only because they got caught. One of them even said on A Current Affair the other night, "What did I do?", implying that he had done nothing wrong. The two doctors who treated this dog have betrayed the trust that has been placed in them by this Government on behalf of the people of Canberra. That trust now needs to be taken back.

We have heard a lot recently about the police culture in New South Wales. I would suggest that we could coin a new phrase here in the ACT, the VMO culture. They have for too long been gods unto themselves, allowed to run rampant in the ACT, and this latest incident just reeks of arrogance. The people of Canberra, with very few exceptions, are expecting some heads on a platter, and I would like to remind Mrs Carnell that I do as well. If I could sack them myself, I would do it right here and now. If these guys want to be vets, I am sure that there is a shortage in some other town and, as far as I am concerned, the sooner they go the better. I have absolutely no faith in these two doctors being judged impartially by their peers or the Department of Health when the director of the intensive care unit is willing to go on the public record and say that, as far as he is concerned, these men had done nothing wrong and their actions were totally justified, given the circumstances.

Mr Speaker, it is blatantly obvious who is running this hospital. It is not Mrs Carnell and it is not her highly-paid executives. In fact, it is the even higher paid VMOs, who have the run of the place, and a licence to print money for themselves in this process. We have seen the role they have had to play in the recent homebirth saga, in which they felt that some potential clients were being taken away so they put their foot down. As far as I am concerned, it stinks. The real scandal that should be investigated here is not the dog on the operating table; it is the dog of a deal that was made by Mrs Carnell at the start of her reign as Health Minister. These visiting medical officers, who profess such high moral and ethical standards yet treat their animals while the waiting lists of humans grow, conned the Chief Minister into accepting a deal that lined their own pockets and blew out the health budget. How that dirty deal came about should be exposed through another investigation. Light should also be shed on the financial contributions that VMOs made to the Liberal Party election campaign funds and the influence they have had on the local Liberal Party.

While Mrs Carnell dithers and instigates no immediate action against the dog-treaters, suspicions about the influence of the medical profession on this Government are understandable. This lack of action defies all commonsense. I would like to remind everybody that right now the Woden Valley Hospital is a joke right around the world. We are now on a par with some of the hospitals you hear about in the slums of Asia, and perhaps some of the hospitals in Pakistan that were reported on in the Witness program last night. We are going to have dog and vet jokes for years to come over this issue, so let us at least be serious in trying to sort out the mess we have. I am sure that members are all aware of the allegations coming to light in the past two weeks of the possibility of other dogs and animals being treated in the hospital as well, so the sooner we have an inquiry that is independent of the hospital the sooner we will expose the truth and restore confidence in our ailing health system.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .