Page 1473 - Week 04 - Thursday, 26 March 2009
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That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Health—general practitioners
Ms Mary Porter
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (5.33): Mr Speaker, the issue of GPs has been in the front of mind of most of the ACT Legislative Assembly in the course of the week. I was today reading the paper and reading accounts of what happened, and I was struck by some paragraphs in the paper. It says on page 3 of the Canberra Times:
Gininderra Labor MLA Mary Porter also asked the Assembly yesterday to acknowledge that the “abrupt closure of the Kippax Family Practice has caused significant concern and disruption to staff and patients and the local community”.
Ms Porter called on the Government to “investigate possible legislative responses that could be pursued to ensure that patients are afforded an appropriate period of notice”.
I think that that is very interesting, because this is something that Ms Porter had on the notice paper. I went and checked because I thought maybe I had missed something. Lo and behold, here is a motion in exactly those terms which is still private members’ business notice No 6. Ms Porter did not move that yesterday.
Ms Gallagher: Because you wanted to go home; everyone wanted to go home.
MRS DUNNE: No, no; I was quite prepared to stay here. In fact, the Assembly adjourned at a quarter to seven last night, when people had spoken in the adjournment debate. Ms Porter could have moved this. Ms Porter could have moved this and spoken to this. If she had not moved it, she has obviously done what she has done in the past: she has put out a press release about something that she has not done.
Here she is, Ms Porter. We know that she embargoed the last one where she said that she enjoyed giving out prizes at an event that did not happen. But what did she do this time? She put it out. She put it out and said, “This is what I did today.” She did not have the decency to tell the reporter that she did not quite get around to it.
Mr Coe: Hawker shops again.
MRS DUNNE: It is like the Hawker shops. She has been out there saying that she has embargoed things to say that she has gone to events that did not happen. She then took pride of place in claiming that she had done something for Hawker shops when she did not. Now she is out there putting out press releases and telling journalists that she has done something which again she has not done. This woman has form on this.
We used to think that Mary was a nice person. We are waiting for her to cash in on the Nicholls shops. We are very concerned about this. This is why I am speaking on this today. Ms Porter has got herself a reputation. She has got herself form. She is Mary the Pretender Porter, the person who pretends to do stuff for the people of the ACT.
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