Page 1737 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, given the $1.4 billion of health budget spending—
MADAM SPEAKER: Preamble, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: why are Canberra’s EDs and elective surgery waiting times the longest in Australia?
MS GALLAGHER: It is interesting to read the latest report on the NEAT and the NEST targets that was released by the COAG reform council, and which came across my desk yesterday. It shows that the ACT is again performing the strongest under the NEST targets, meeting eight out of the nine targets under the national elective surgery targets, and under NEAT I am seeing improvements all the time.
Mr Hanson: The targets are the lowest in the nation. The bar is the lowest.
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Hanson can continue to talk down the staff, who are working—
Mr Hanson: Oh!
MS GALLAGHER: You cannot have it both ways. You cannot talk down and say it is the worst performing ED and elective surgery in the country and then, all of a sudden, say, “But I’m not attacking anyone who’s actually delivering those programs. It’s not anyone else’s fault.” So it has nothing to do with the actual delivery of the program. You cannot have it both ways. Every time you say it, staff in those areas talk to me about how unfairly targeted they feel, and how victimised they feel, from the negativity around how hard they are working to deliver improvements. They are delivering improvements every time.
Mr Hanson: You’re a failure. You’re a failure, Katy.
MS GALLAGHER: If you had a look at last week’s report and actually looked at how the health system is working here, and compare it to the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle—
Mr Hanson: You’re a failure.
MS GALLAGHER: I am not a failure, Mr Hanson. You have said that four times now—“Katy, you’re a failure, “Katy, you’re a failure”, “Katy, you’re a failure”—across the chamber. I am not a failure.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: People need to hear what you are saying. You do not have the courage to actually stand up and say it, Mr Hanson.
MADAM SPEAKER: Chief Minister, could you address the chair.
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