Page 1874 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 May 2013
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As part of our election commitments, we are committed to extending the availability of walk-in centres, and we will be opening new centres in Belconnen and Tuggeranong as per our commitment. This will ensure that people on the north and south of Canberra will have easy access to a highly skilled nursing service seven days a week and outside of hours.
In relation to midwives, midwives work in partnership with women to give them the necessary support, care and advice during pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. And, of course, they are there to conduct births within the midwife’s own scope of responsibilities. All the feedback we get from women around the care with midwives is that they really support the continuity of care program. That is, they would like to stay with the midwife through their pregnancy. That is what has made the birth centre model so popular. Part of it is that relationship that you create with the midwife who will be providing care when your baby is born. We have sought to replicate that with a continuity of care program which can provide pregnancy care visits from the initial contact at between 12 and 16 weeks of pregnancy and throughout, modelling that whilst not necessarily accessing the birth centre.
During the election campaign we did commit to a birth centre at Calvary public hospital for women living in Canberra’s north; we are rolling that out and discussing that as part of the budget cabinet.
I think this should possibly have been an MPI where everybody could have spoken positively about nurses and the role they play without perhaps turning it into another political barb across the chamber, but Mr Hanson does not appear to be able to do one speech without doing that.
Mr Coe: What are you doing now?
MS GALLAGHER: There we go. Make a comment, and then Mr Coe and Mr Hanson—it does not take them long to get going.
But one thing I will say, Mr Assistant Speaker, is this. For the biggest bully in this place to give a lecture about how distressed he is at the concept of bullying in other workplaces—if it is so distressing to him, he should reflect on his behaviour in this house in the last week, where he has continuously, and in an unprovoked sense, bullied individual members of this place.
Mr Hanson: That is outrageous.
MS GALLAGHER: No, it is not outrageous. You have. You are the biggest bully in this place, and you have consistently attacked individual members this week.
Mr Hanson: Mr Assistant Speaker, a point of order.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Gentleman): Mr Hanson. Stop the clock, please, Clerk.
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