Page 314 - Week 01 - Thursday, 29 November 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR HANSON (Molonglo), by leave: Well might the minister not want to move that it be noted, because quite clearly—
Ms Gallagher: The re-elected minister.
MR HANSON: The hubris from opposite: “the re-elected minister”. No doubt she will start with her “four more years”. The arrogance of this minister! Well she might not want to have had that corrigendum noted, because what does it say and what is the background? Again, for the edification of the new members elected to this place, this is a result of the greatest deceit perpetrated on the people of the ACT since the formation of self-government. What occurred is that a friend of the Chief Minister, who was also a senior executive in ACT Health, fabricated 11,700 emergency department records to make this government look good. That is what has occurred.
What the minister has had to do today, with her tail between her legs, is come into this place and provide the updated figures, the true figures, after this community and this Assembly were lied to repeatedly about the state of their emergency department, disgracefully.
What we know now, having had the true facts released, is that we still have extraordinarily long waiting times in the ACT. In fact our waiting times here for emergency departments are longer than anywhere else in the nation.
Mr Assistant Speaker, this has been litigated before, but let me assure you and let me assure members that I will not let this Assembly, nor will I let the people of the ACT, forget that under this health minister they were lied to, that under this health minister they wait longer in the emergency department than anywhere else in the country, and that the minister misled the people of the ACT when she said that she had no personal relationship with the woman that fabricated the data.
This is a sad reminder of perhaps the lowest ebb that we have seen from any government in the ACT under Katy Gallagher, where the people of the ACT were lied to about such an important thing and she compounded that lie by denying that she had a personal relationship with the woman that fabricated the data when we found out that that was the truth.
Personal explanation
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Health and Minister for Higher Education): I wish to make a personal explanation under standing order 46.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Doszpot): Leave is granted.
MS GALLAGHER: I will not take up too much time but Mr Hanson said I came into the chamber with my tail between my legs. For the information of members, I do not have a tail. I would like that on the record.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video