Page 1154 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
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I thank Ms Gallagher for the information about wage parity for ACT-employed nurses and nurses in the federal-funded programs that she gave in response to Dr Foskey, who has left the chamber. I was hoping that she would be still here as I wanted to remind her that if she does not know much about this subject, as she has admitted to us all, she had better find out a bit more about it because, like all of us, she is getting older and the alternative to that is not very pleasant. Let us wish that she does continue to get older, but she might well need to know a bit more about this subject in the future.
Mr Smyth was saying that he visits these places all the time. I do not know whether he actually talks to the residents, but he certainly talks to the staff. Residents have said to me time and time again that they greatly admire their nurses and greatly appreciate their carers and that they want to have more nurses and they want to have better paid nurses. Of course they do. That is obvious. They say that they believe that the low wages are at the root of many of the other problems that no doubt exist and that Ms Gallagher has outlined. Low morale is one of those, as is tiredness. If you are understaffed, you are continually tired. I believe that training is provided to nurses in an adequate way, giving us qualified and holistic care when we do have those nurses in place.
As Mr Smyth and I have pointed out, we are not all going to become frail and all the residents of the aged care facilities are not necessarily frail people, but there is a growing level of care needed and a growing number of people needing high care. When I visit these aged care facilities, and I do visit a number of them in my electorate and I do speak to the residents frequently, I am aware, as I have seen for myself, of the growing numbers of very frail people needing high level care.
Mr Smyth makes much of the ACT’s planning system. As a member of the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment, I know that the reforms that this government has introduced are working, and getting approval is certainly much less of a problem now than it has been in the past. As Mr Stanhope has very clearly pointed out, when the opposition were in power there was a much lower rate of approval. In fact, it was so low that you would hardly describe them as registering on the radar screen.
Mr Smyth: How many did they open in their first term, if you know all this?
MS PORTER: I am just pointing out to you the comparison between the number of approvals.
Mr Smyth: Let’s see the comparison.
MS PORTER: I do not have the numbers here in front of me, Mr Smyth, but I do know that there have been—
Mr Seselja: Zero. That is not many.
MS PORTER: Mr Seselja could probably fill you in if you want to have a little chat between you now. Is that what you want to do?
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Ms Porter, address your comments through the chair.
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