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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2333 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Does Mrs Carnell expect us to believe that the board will meet in a room somewhere for nothing, will not even turn the lights on, will not have any secretarial support, will not consider any briefings and will not ask for any briefings but will have responsibility for all of those functions of the Australian Capital Territory Health and Community Care Service under section 6 of the proposed Act? The board will also have the responsibility, in effect, for the powers of the service and so on. It will be the directing body of the service and will just sit there with no support. She has to be kidding herself. Nobody out there in the community will believe that. They know that there will be subcommittees of the board, all of which will have to have secretarial support. Mrs Carnell will remember that from her days on the former board. She will remember the trappings. She will remember the increased standing in the community which came from being on the board. Mind you, for those who were on it when Mrs Carnell went into politics, it soon changed. She soon threw a blanket over their standing in the community, so much so that many of them resigned.

Mr Humphries: You sacked them. What are you talking about.

MR BERRY: The chairman resigned and a few others resigned as well, and of course we dispensed with the board.

Mr Moore: Mr Berry just helped them along a little.

MR BERRY: Indeed, I did. I am always bubbling over with help for people who ask for it.

Mrs Carnell: By getting rid of the legislation. That was a pretty definite way to do it.

MR BERRY: Not until influential members of the board and key members of the board had resigned. Mr Speaker, two extra layers of administration are being created by Mrs Carnell and her Government, who seem to have some links with the past and some soft spot in their heart for the past in relation to these issues.

Mr Speaker, I should also draw attention to the history of health boards in the ACT. There have been many authorities and similar arrangements in place for the management of Health. Before self-government we saw Federal Ministers set up boards, and we all know why they did it - to distance themselves from ACT Health problems. They all did it for that reason. When I became the ACT's first Health Minister, I inherited an interim board, and some well-meaning people advised that it would be a good idea to entrench the interim board to distance myself from the problems in Health. Philosophically, I could not do that because it was important - - -

Mrs Carnell: So it does not work?

MR BERRY: It does not work and it does not do anything for the provision of services for people who need them. It turns out to be, in effect, a dumb idea. I questioned that tactic then and I rejected it, and I question it now. It should be rejected. We are elected to this Assembly to be responsible for the ACT, and Health Ministers are responsible for health matters. Mr Humphries knows that he had to take responsibility for all matters in Health. Mrs Carnell knows that she will continue to take responsibility for all

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