Page 2735 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 June 2012
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health consumer visiting the Canberra Hospital with her family. People that know Mrs Dunne would know that she has children with a number of serious health issues. The story of her daughter being stuck in the emergency department waiting room for 15 hours was extraordinary but, sadly, it is the sort of experience that is shared by many across our community.
I thank Mr Smyth in particular for his contribution with regard to our health staff. As much as Ms Gallagher and her team try to turn any criticism that we make of the health system, or indeed any other part of the government, into a Liberal attack on staff, they are not. We want to see the best health system that we can have in the ACT. We indeed want to see the best health system in Australia, which we used to have. I think that the health staff on the front line would share the Canberra Liberals’ ambition. Many health professionals that I talk to, be they nurses, allied health professionals or doctors, share the concern at the neglect that they have seen of our health system over the last decade.
I am again not surprised that the Greens will not be supporting this motion, although I see nothing in it that is not supportable. There is nothing in my motion that is not anything other than factual. Again, we saw from Amanda Bresnan: “What have you done? We need to move towards a more preventative health model.” She would know that back in 2010 I presented a health paper that actually had a number of bits of evidence that supported that proposition.
Since then we have had a number of community forums—six, in fact: primary health; mental health; allied health; seniors health, and I note and acknowledge Mr Seselja’s participation in that forum; women’s health, and I acknowledge Mrs Dunne’s participation in that forum; and men’s health. They have been very well attended by community organisations. And we have heard from many members of the community, both individuals and those representing peak organisations, about their shared concerns about our health system, and indeed about the management of this government.
In terms of GPs, that is an issue that came up. Again we heard from Ms Bresnan, “What have the Canberra Liberals done?” We moved for an inquiry in this place that led to the government task force that resulted in approximately 40 recommendations to government, probably the most substantive body of work regarding primary health since self-government. That is the sort of thing that we have been doing since we have been in opposition.
We also instigated the elective surgery review of the Auditor-General that found that elective surgery was being mismanaged by this government and provided a way forward for this government. I was told by a very senior bureaucrat—a very senior bureaucrat—that the reason that this government was starting to move in a number of areas on elective surgery was the pressure that was being applied by the opposition. I think you will find that that is the case, and it is the case across the floor.
What we have been doing, in addition to providing that positive agenda to push the government in the right direction—which we have done on GPs, on elective surgery, through our health forums, and through the paper that we put out in 2010—is hold this government to account. That is the principal job of an opposition.
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