Page 3850 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 4 December 2007
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MS GALLAGHER: Well, that is what you have just said. You have said that the MAPU is not working.
Mrs Burke: I did not—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Burke.
MS GALLAGHER: That is what you said—that the MAPU is not working. We have established new fast-track systems at the emergency department to provide quicker access. We have got a new registrar review clinic which ensures that patients who need to return to the emergency department for follow-up treatment do not have to wait for long hours of care. But the most significant investment that this government has made to reduce access block has been 147 extra beds in the hospital—147 extra beds to replace the 114 that that lot took out of the system: 114 beds that went under your administration. We have put 147 extra beds—funded—into the system. That is—
Mr Smyth: Acute care beds?
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Smyth.
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Stefaniak needs to come up with some evidence around the 200 beds. I have searched for any evidence of Mr Berry cutting 200 beds from the health system. There is absolutely no evidence to support that claim. I challenge you, Mr Stefaniak. I know that your deputy does not do this; your deputy just makes allegations and then leaves them out there without any evidence to support them. But as leader—come on, Bill: if you are going to say that Mr Berry cut 200 beds from the system, prove it. Show us all where those beds were cut.
Mr Stefaniak: It is in Hansard.
MS GALLAGHER: Oh, it is in Hansard! Mrs Carnell—
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MS GALLAGHER: Are you going to table the Hansard now like Mrs Burke tabled her media releases? You cannot keep saying that the Labor government cut 200 beds from the health system when there is no evidence other than a line that Mrs Carnell gave in question time. That is it. That is all you’ve got.
We have had a good look at this, Bill, because it would be a bit of a weakness in our argument if we were beating you up for cutting 114 beds and then it turned out that Mr Berry cut 200. I accept that that would be a bit of a weakness in our argument. But there is no evidence; in fact, the evidence is to the contrary. All you have to do, Mrs Burke, is go and have a look at the AIHW reports of that time: you will see that there were not 200 beds cut out. But don’t worry. Don’t worry about the AIHW. Don’t believe them either. It is a big conspiracy, Mrs Burke! Nobody publishes accurate data in the health system!
Mr Smyth: Are you comparing like with like?
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