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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1500 ..

Ms McRae: He asked - - -

MR SPEAKER: I know.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, it does have serious implications, but I think the coroner has placed squarely on the table the question of reclining, and I intend to pursue it with the industrial organisations concerned. I cannot indicate to the Assembly what the outcome of those discussions will be, because it is the Government's preferred approach that it discuss such issues with industrial implications with the industrial organisations affected. The issue has been placed very squarely before the ACT community and it is my determination, as Minister responsible for Emergency Services, that we prevent these circumstances from arising again, and that necessitates addressing all of the issues that the coroner has placed before the community.

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Humphries for his response. Does that mean, Minister, that you are now satisfied that all calls can be responded to speedily, especially in the terms set out in the performance criteria?

MR HUMPHRIES: I am not quite sure that the supplementary question follows the first question. You did not mention the procedures in the first part of the question. I will have to take that on notice. In this particular case, to the best of my knowledge it is not a question of the procedures having been violated. I do not believe the procedures in this case were necessarily violated. There is, for example, as far as I am aware, or there has been up to date, no procedure that banned reclining. It was and is a common practice for those working on night shifts, not only in the Ambulance Service but also in the Fire Service.

Mr Berry: Across Australia.

MR HUMPHRIES: And across Australia, says Mr Berry, and that may well be the case. That is one of the issues to be examined.

In terms of response times, the place where this incident occurred was in the southern part of Kaleen. There is an ambulance station at Belconnen. In theory, a response well within the eight minutes which we specify as our target was certainly eminently possible in this case; but, for the reasons the coroner identified yesterday, it did not occur within that time. I believe it is important that we address the reasons why it did not occur. If procedures need to be tightened to achieve that, then that will occur. I am not sure that there is any issue about the present state of procedures. I think, with great respect to Mr Wood, the issue is not so much what present procedures say; it is what procedures ought to say.

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