Page 1631 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 1 April 2009
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that the Kippax town centre offer essential services such as shopping and health care, because the families are often single parent families, they may be carers or they are the working poor. These residents are already struggling to survive on low incomes, and it would be difficult to have to travel further or travel by bus to a health centre outside of their own suburbs or to take time to sit in emergency for services that a GP should be able to offer. The time required may mean they have to take time off work, which may stretch their already stretched incomes even further.
The lack of GP services in the ACT in general is concerning, and we have already amply covered this issue in the Assembly today. I would like to acknowledge the moves by the community to set up a replacement health centre in west Belconnen, and it has recently opened. I welcome the upcoming review and inquiry which will address these matters.
I agree with Ms Bresnan’s comment on Ms Porter’s motion and also on Mr Hanson’s amendment. I also find it very odd that Mr Hanson has said that he is the champion of health consumers while his amendment deletes the clause that relates to investigating a legislative response, ensuring health consumers are given an appropriate period of notice of closure of their GP’s practice. So I do find it quite strange that that would be deleted by Mr Hanson’s amendment. Therefore, I support Ms Porter’s motion.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Treasurer, Minister for Health, Minister for Community Services and Minister for Women) (11.25): I thank Ms Porter for bringing this motion to the Assembly today. It is important to note that this was scheduled to be debated last Wednesday, but it was the desire of the Assembly, including the opposition and the crossbench, to retire at 7 o’clock last Wednesday—
Mr Hanson: It was the government’s decision. We would have supported the government if they wanted to sit late.
MS GALLAGHER: The government does not have the numbers around the adjournment, Mr Hanson. That is the interesting thing here. It was due to be debated, and, lo and behold, we got through every other item on the business paper except the government’s piece of work, and the Assembly adjourned. So the timing of this motion has been out of the government’s control, but we have been very happy to pick up the idea of Ms Porter in relation to investigating legislative responses.
Prior to this Assembly passing this motion today, the government was very happy to adopt the idea around investigating legislative responses. Mr Hanson’s entire speech—he struggled to actually fill the 15 minutes that we had to endure—was an extremely negative speech, which we are becoming used to hearing from Mr Hanson. What his speech indicated was a complete lack of understanding of the health system, how it works, what the government has responsibility for in different areas of the health system and the capacity of the ACT government to actually refuse businesses the right to close. We do not have that capacity, but what we do have is some capacity to investigate ways to protect patients through the process if a medical centre is to close. So it is not about—
Mr Stanhope: You need to understand the scope, mate. You haven’t got a clue.
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