Page 2027 - Week 06 - Thursday, 8 June 2006
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Mr Smyth: I did not say there was.
MR CORBELL: Oh, there is not any! Somehow the existence of an administrative unit called Healthpact makes all the difference as to whether people are able to be prevented from going into hospital. I would have thought that maybe it would have made a difference if there had been some reduction in health promotion activity, maybe there was less money to be spent on encouraging people to eat in healthy ways, encouraging people to take part in regular exercise or targeting people whom we know have certain risk behaviours that are more likely to result in them ending up in hospital.
Surely there would have been a real problem if there has actually been a reduction in health promotion funding, but there has not. There has been no reduction in health promotion funding. In fact, as a result of this measure, those funds will be able to be utilised more efficiently because there will be less administration associated with them. More money will be available to go to the front line.
Mr Smyth: That is what happened in WA.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Gentleman): Order, Mr Smyth!
MR CORBELL: The absurd nature of Mr Smyth’s argument is that this unit, Healthpact, must be defended at all costs because it and only it can provide increases in healthy activity.
Mr Smyth: No, we have picked and chosen which ones we are going to defend.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Mr Smyth!
MR CORBELL: Yabba, yabba, yabba goes Mr Smyth, like Yogi Bear.
Mr Smyth: For personal abuse, Mr Corbell, that is very sharp.
MR CORBELL: He is still going. He has been caught out, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker.
Mr Smyth: You do not like it, do you, Mr Corbell?
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Mr Smyth, I have called you to order twice. Mr Corbell has the floor.
MR CORBELL: He has been caught out, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, because he has just asserted and, in fact, has just agreed that there has been no reduction in health promotion funding. How can he claim that there are going to be waves of people, thousands and thousands more, ending up at the public hospital if there has not been any reduction to health promotion funding? This is a sad argument from the Liberal Party, a sad and dismal argument from the shadow minister for health. You would have thought that he would have looked to the bottom line—
Mr Smyth: Sad is the man in the book.
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