Page 3663 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 21 November 2007
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The motion talks about the importance of long-term strategic planning for health services. We all know that planning and action are two different things. We know, unfortunately, that the health minister is very confused about how many plans there are for health, because in the Assembly on 30 August the minister said there were hundreds of them. She said to me, “So I do not know how reading out 12 of the hundreds that exist actually substantiates your claim.” But on radio, in August, Ms Gallagher said:
You did get on radio and say this is the sixth or seventh plan, but nobody takes it to the next level. Can you name them all, Mrs Burke? There are none. There are two plans, the health action plan, which was done when the Chief Minister was Minister for Health, and now there is the access health plan.
When is a plan not a plan? I am not sure. I think the minister is very confused. I did read out a whole raft of plans. But plans are one thing; action is another. The minister is laughing now; it is quite amusing when you read it out and hear it.
The opposition has called for an inquiry under the Inquiries Act to address the current situation in our public hospitals, particularly in the Canberra Hospital. We know that an enormous amount of money is being spent on our public hospitals, but for too long now there have been administrative failures which point to the problems with internal governance and management practices. It is time for a full review. The commitment and professionalism of the ACT Health workforce to deliver high-quality health services are not being supported by the current health minister, who is simply letting the current problems drift. As I keep saying, she is in denial. She says that I have had no letters: “You’ve got no evidence. There is no proof. You are making things up, Mrs Burke.” I hope she says that loud and long so that the people of Canberra can hear her.
It is imperative that we encourage greater self-reliance on the part of our constituents in regard to the totality of the health system, not so much because of concern about cost but because the more self-reliance there is on the part of individuals, the more likelihood there will be of improved health quality and outcomes. The best way to do this is to encourage a more competitive healthcare environment which emphasises prevention where possible and minimises the use of hospitals wherever practicable.
Alarming statistics and observations have been put out by external bodies which we have all heard about in this place—by people like the AMA and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, as well as by a number of constituents. The Stanhope government have failed the people of the ACT with respect to their health system. To sum up, this government and, in particular, this minister, are in denial.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Health, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Disability and Community Services, Minister for Women) (5.01): As usual, the same speech has been cut and pasted and delivered 10 times now. We have had exactly the same speech from Mrs Burke. She just rattles on about my competency or lack thereof—and it is open and free for her to do so—and bags management at the hospital—
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