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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2024 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

there is Dr Jeans, the protagonist here, who is telling patent falsehoods. But not the minister. The minister rises above those low and venal motivations in everything that he does and says in relation to this issue.

A serious issue has been raised here by one of the most senior surgeons employed at the Canberra Hospital. He is one of the most senior and respected surgeons that we have there. The minister was quite happy to have him employed as a VMO; the minister was happy to embrace him in that context. But as soon as he dares to disagree, what do we do? We rush into the Assembly, under privilege, and accuse him of telling patent falsehoods.

Of course, "patent falsehood" is just a euphemism, is it not? "Patent falsehood" is just a euphemism for "lie". What the minister is saying, of course, is that Dr Jeans is a liar and he rushes into this place to say it. That is basically the moral and intellectual strength that the minister brings to his argument in relation to this matter, his argument in relation to this most serious crisis that has been affecting the public health system in the ACT. The minister rushes into the Assembly and relies on parliamentary privilege to yell all around, for all to hear, "Liar, liar, liar."

I do not think that he would be all that interested in saying it outside this place and I am not sure that he will now invite Dr Jeans into this place to defend himself; so it is a very unsatisfactory end. It is quite predictable. The minister has been sending signals for the last week that he did intend to do precisely what he has done, to come into this place, to rely on parliamentary privilege, and simply bucket a respected member of the community who spoke out on an issue of grave concern to him, an issue causing grave concern to a number of other health professionals, to the nurses and to those patients who are not being dealt with in the manner that they should be by a caring and sympathetic community with a public health system that is operating appropriately.

This minister has not delivered that. This minister, after two years in the job, has presided over the disaster that we have experienced here in the last month. It is this minister that has damaged the credibility and the confidence of the Canberra Hospital. It is this minister and this minister alone. But what does he do under attack? He thrashes around and seeks to blame everybody, and he does it in an outrageous way, attributing base political motive to them. Some of those health officials, health workers and health professionals engaged in this debate were motivated, according to the minister's puerile suggestion, only by a desire to achieve Labor Party preselection for the next election.

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (4.18), in reply: Mr Deputy Speaker, I will just take the issues in their order of importance. I think the most important one is that I have used the term "patently false". The allegations that were made are clearly identified in the report of the death review committee as being patently false. The very first page reads at the top:

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