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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1885 ..

MR SPEAKER: I remind members that, now that Mr Whitecross has moved an amendment, members who have spoken before can address the Assembly again on Mr Whitecross's amendment.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care) (12.30): Mr Speaker, I thought it might be appropriate to try to get back to the point of the motion. It shows again that those opposite really do not have a case here today. The fact that Mr Whitecross has felt the need to talk about buses, Premiers Conferences and libraries really shows that he does not believe that he can win the argument on the basis on what is in front of us. I think that really shows with the amendment as well, Mr Speaker. The amendment obviously is a joke, or, if it is not a joke, what it is actually saying is that figures that were produced under a previous government and published under a previous government - that would mean budgets - - -

Mr Whitecross: They were not published.

MRS CARNELL: I am sorry; they were published. The amendment is saying that figures published under a previous government and distributed under a previous government became the responsibility of the new government. Mr Speaker, no matter how you look at that, that is just ridiculous. Obviously, figures that have been produced by us - all of the health figures that have been produced since last March when we took office - are my responsibility. I am the Minister. I accept that totally. Figures that were produced under Mr Berry when he was Minister are his responsibility, and so it goes on.

Mr Whitecross has moved an amendment to the motion that is before this Assembly, which, by its very nature, indicates that, if a new government ever publishes figures that were actually published by a previous government, produced under a previous government, documented under a previous government and used by a previous government for management purposes, the new government should be censured. The actual documents that those figures came from are called "Financial Performance Reports for Woden Valley Hospital". They are very important documents, Mr Speaker, and ones that are used for management purposes, for political purposes, for planning purposes and for strategic purposes.

Mr Whitecross: But not published.

MRS CARNELL: And published and distributed around the hospital and around Health generally. The amendment we have here indicates - - -

Mr Berry: You never saw me in Accident and Emergency handing them out.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Sit down, Mr Berry.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Berry, I think that what we have here from Mr Whitecross is an amendment that suggests that, if we use any figures that were produced and documented under a previous government - basically, if we republish figures that were already published under a previous government - without going back and checking every line

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