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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 8 Hansard (25 August) . . Page.. 2414 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

As I said earlier, I did not want to have to move this motion, but I believe that government is about leadership and I believe that the Minister responsible to this Government needs to be involved in this negotiation, needs to show some leadership and, for all of the Canberra community, needs to see an end to this dispute. I commend the motion to the Assembly.

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (4.28): Not so long ago this Assembly passed a motion expressing grave concern not about my management of the hospital but about the financial issues surrounding the hospital. The motion stated:

That this Assembly, noting:

(1) the increasing blowout in The Canberra Hospital budget;

(2) the alarming increase in elective surgery waiting lists;

(3) the Minister for Health and Community Care's inability to deal positively with staff of The Canberra Hospital;

(4) the replacement of the Chief Executive of The Canberra Hospital; and

(5) the Minister for Health and Community Care's interference in the day to day management of The Canberra Hospital;

expresses its grave concern at the inability of the government and the Minister for Health and Community Care to effectively manage the health system.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. In the previous motion the Assembly, noting the Minister for Health and Community Care's interference in the day-to-day management of the Canberra Hospital, expressed grave concern. That is the motion that was passed. Now Mr Osborne puts up a motion which I am quite comfortable with but which narrows down into something quite different.

His motion requires the Government to immediately commence negotiations with representatives of the ANF over work conditions and pay for nurses employed in the Canberra hospital system. I am very happy to do that. In fact, we have been trying to do exactly that very thing. The Government is made up of a number of people. We have delegated this negotiation to the particular agency concerned, the Canberra Hospital, and rightly so, so that the manager of the Canberra Hospital can deal with the workers, represented in this case by the union.

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