Page 3134 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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Mr Corbell: On the point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, of course it was the Leader of the Opposition himself who drew analogies with previous no-confidence motions.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes. The debate has gone to that subject before on both sides of the house. Mr Barr, you may continue.
MR BARR: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. You can see the sensitivity of the Canberra Liberals, but they were the ones who wheeled Kate out—dragged her from the political graveyard back into this debate because they were too weak to carry it themselves. They were the ones who felt the need to go back into the past, to try and get perhaps the only Liberal in the history of self-government who had the capacity to lead them to an election victory—and yet the government she led was a joke, and the people of Canberra know that, and she had to resign in disgrace. So that is the alternative. That is what we can expect more of, apparently—although, as we know, Kate Carnell was a Liberal. This mob are not Liberals; they are far from it.
In contrast, the record of this government in health is very clear: more beds; more doctors; more nurses; more operating theatres; more elective surgery; new services—nurse-led walk-in centre; mental health assessment units; the step-up, step-down facility; eye surgery; head and neck trauma; new neuro suites; the women’s and children’s hospital; new radiation oncology services; new community health centres at Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin; neonatal intensive care video streaming services; digital mammography; surgical assessment units; medical assessment units; the hospital in the home program; paediatric ED services; neonatal emergency transfer services; more services in support of our GPs. It is a strong record.
A substantive part of the motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition today purports to talk down the ACT health system and to suggest that the system is failing the people of Canberra. But the evidence is to the contrary and it is important in this debate that people who believe in the public health system in this territory stand up and put firmly on the record that it is a good system and that the people who work within it work hard for the people of Canberra. The system serves us well. There is always room for improvement, as the Chief Minister said, in any health system. We have a plan to achieve that improvement and to continue to work towards an even better health system, and it does stand in marked contrast to the approach of those opposite.
I have always held the view that elections should be about ideas and about competing priorities and agendas for the future. There is no doubt that this government has a considerable policy agenda for economic reform, for growth and development in the city, and it does stand in marked contrast to the alternative.
We have had the opportunity to hear from a few speakers on the other side this morning, and it has all been innuendo, gutter politics and personal attacks on the Chief Minister. There has been nothing of substance: no policy alternatives, no better ways to do things, no suggestions at all of a policy alternative.
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