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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 148 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Basically, those are most of the points I wanted to raise. I will be supporting Mr Corbell's amendment. I will not be putting my amendment, but I have placed my concerns on the record.

I will be supporting Ms Dundas's amendment to Mr Corbell's amendment, which changes the words from "notes that the government will"do various things-respond and talk to the Assembly after the meeting or, when they know what the Commonwealth is offering, changing the words "notes that"to "calls on". I cannot "note that"because I do not know that definitely. We will call on the government to do it and we will be reassured to hear Mr Corbell say that he will do it.

MS DUNDAS (11.52): I move my amendment to Mr Corbell's amendment:

Omit "notes that the Government will", substitute "calls on the Government to".

This is a small and possibly technical amendment, but it goes to taking note of the Assembly's role in this debate. We have heard from the government that it will be outlining its response. The minister would like us to note that, but we heard it today and we need something stronger than that. This Assembly needs to call on the government to provide its response, so we then have the words in place to make sure the power rests with this Assembly.

It is important that the issue of general practitioners and the overall health strategy in the ACT, and how it fits into the health strategy federally, be resolved. An overall response, including relevant time frames for implementation, is something we, as an Assembly, are desperately looking for. A technical amendment such as this puts an extra onus of responsibility on the government to be responsive to this Assembly and the community, to provide the information we are seeking on the outcomes of the Australian Health Care Agreement negotiations.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (11.54): The government is on the record-we will outline our response. The government has moved an amendment to that effect. We will outline our response once the Australian Health Care Agreement is finalised and we know what the Commonwealth will be doing to address these issues, and what other matters we will have to consider and address.

The government is on the record. I think this is a fairly pedantic point, but we are not going to oppose the amendment.

MR HARGREAVES (11.55): For the simple people, this motion was moved by me. I am very grateful to hear the government's response to the requests from the crossbench. I would hate anybody in this Assembly to think that this was a government-moved motion, when it was not. I am very glad to see that the government is in fact going to provide me with the same information which has been solicited by my good colleagues on the crossbench.

Ms Dundas's amendment agreed to.

Mr Corbell's amendment, as amended, agreed to.

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