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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (17 April) . . Page.. 992 ..

MR BERRY: No; I am talking about the general scheme of things, the way doctors deal with private and public patients in our public hospital system, and the referral patterns to private practice need to be investigated as well. The Health Complaints Commissioner, I think, could deal with that.

Mrs Carnell: I do not think so. It is not a complaint about something.

MR BERRY: The issue needs to be examined so that the community can be satisfied that it is dealt with. If the health complaints unit cannot deal with any of these issues, I would be quite happy if some of them are separated and somebody else deals with them. In the context of the motion which has been put forward, that is where you have to consult with members before appointing people to conduct these inquiries.

So far as the Health Complaints Commissioner's activities would be involved, I would be happy if you said to members of this Assembly, "I make a reference to the Health Complaints Commissioner in relation to paragraphs (1), (2) and (3), and, in relation to those other matters, if the Health Complaints Commissioner cannot look at them, I will make a reference to this other person I have appointed to look after the problem". If you want to look at it that way, we are quite happy to do it. But it has to be an independent inquiry, well away from the hospital system, the management of the hospitals, and so on.

Mrs Carnell: So the fraud investigation unit is all right?

MR BERRY: The fraud investigation unit in the context of this independent investigation can be regarded as irrelevant.

Mrs Carnell: Why?

MR BERRY: If you do not understand that by now, I am not going to spend any more time explaining it to you. Mr Speaker, this motion needs to be passed. So far as the Health Complaints Commissioner is concerned, if he can examine the whole lot of it, I would be quite content with that, provided that other members are content with it as well. If there are issues that the Health Complaints Commissioner is not comfortable about investigating and somebody else needs to look at it, provided that all other members of this Assembly agree, I would be happy with that process as well. I am entirely flexible on this issue. I think the motion deals with all of the issues that need to be looked at. In the context of the treatment of those dogs in the hospital, other issues were raised, and I have received complaints in my office in relation to some of the private practice issues which need to be dealt with. They need to be clarified.

Mrs Carnell: We fully agree. They are related issues.

MR BERRY: They need to be clarified. If you want somebody else to investigate them, you offer somebody else, and that is fair enough; but I believe that they need to be investigated. That is why they are included in this motion. It is a most important issue.

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