Page 869 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Mr Stanhope: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. That’s a lie. I ask that the member withdraw that lie.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, you are actually reaching a point of vexatiously using points of order. I think we have covered this matter. You have an opportunity at the end of question time. If you do it again, I will have to warn you for vexatious points of order.
Mr Stanhope: Well, I withdraw again. But I just make this point now: this has reached the point where—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, this is not an opportunity for you to speak.
MR HANSON: Shall I ask my question again, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes, please.
MR HANSON: Minister, like the Chief Minister, do you believe Lachlan’s parents should simply stop whingeing about the long wait that they are facing?
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Hanson, Mr Stanhope did not say that. Indeed, with the beauty of the electronic age, I am sitting here reading the transcript of what Mr Stanhope said—and he did not say anything like that. I think the focus on—
Mr Smyth: He did. ABC said he did.
Mr Hanson: It’s the context.
MS GALLAGHER: Well, the editorialising around the quote—now we get to it: the editorialising around the direct—
Mr Smyth: “Stop whingeing about wait times: Stanhope”.
MS GALLAGHER: Yes, and you will notice that is not in quotation marks directly attributable to the Chief Minister. That is a headline, Mr Smyth—a headline, it appears, that somebody has written.
The issue always to focus on is to make sure that people get access to their surgery based on clinical need within the capacity of the system, and I understand that that individual family is being supported to ensure that we do provide the surgery in the shortest time possible—and that is my focus.
MR SMYTH: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Smyth.
MR SMYTH: Thank you. Minister, why have you failed to reach an agreement to streamline elective surgery waiting lists in the ACT?
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