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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3529 ..

completely ludicrous. Today we are debating the same topic that we debated on 22 June—a month ago. Mr Smyth thinks he will make some progress in relation to this issue but until he comes up with a reasoned and sensible debate he will only be going backwards.

There is no question about the fact that there are always issues, and there always will be, that need addressing in the area of health and hospitals. In discussing these issues I wish to make one thing clear: the ACT community has access to one of the finest public hospital systems in the world. I do not think anybody would dispute that. In 2003-04 our public hospitals provided over 70,000 inpatient episodes—the highest number on record. In that year it managed an 11 per cent increase in the number of outpatient occasions of service—again, the highest number on record. It oversaw an increase of 22 per cent in the most serious types of emergency department presentations.

In 2003-04 our public hospitals provided almost 1,000 additional elective surgery operations—an increase of 13 per cent—and, yet again, the highest number of elective surgery operations in a year on record, which is pretty impressive. Yet the pressures continue and the government continues to address them by putting more and more money into the health system. Mr Smyth said that this government is only just meeting inflation. He is wrong again. This government is way ahead of inflation. Mr Smyth should be praising the efforts of clinicians, support staff and nurses who are managing this significant increase in the demand for hospital services, rather than undermining their confidence, which is what he has done. This government is not in denial, which is what Mr Smyth has claimed.

I have been Acting Minister for Health for about five weeks and I am mightily impressed by the attention that is given to every aspect of health and hospitals. I am also impressed by the devotion of staff to their duty. There has been a significant increase in demand for services and that has placed quite severe pressures on health professionals. There is significant competition in Australia and around the world for qualified health professionals in all areas. As Mr Corbell said only a few weeks ago, everyone who uses our public hospitals can be assured that they will have access to high quality care and that the latest procedures, pharmaceuticals and equipment will be used. I repeat what Mr Corbell said:

No-one in need of emergency care is turned away from our public hospitals.

This government has an excellent track record in ensuring that no-one in need of urgent elective surgery is made to wait too long for that surgery. I refer members to a headline to which I referred earlier which mentioned delays in elective surgery. Let me refer again to the facts. We heard a lot of repetitive debate from Mr Smyth but he does not want to hear repetition from this government. The former Liberal government, of which Mr Smyth was a part, funded additional elective surgery with time-limited funds provided by the Commonwealth as a thank you for signing up early to the previous health care agreement.

When this government came into office in 2001-02 those funds ran out. The former Liberal government, of which Mr Smyth was a part, did not make allowance for the continuation of this additional funding in its last budget. It did not maintain that level of funding and it was not written into its forward estimates. The Labor government, which

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