Page 1803 - Week 06 - Thursday, 14 May 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker, the question was very direct. It was about gym equipment being counted as a hospital bed. That is what is being asserted by the minister—gym equipment and the hydrotherapy pool. That is in the statement, I believe, as reported in the media—that the gym is now being counted by the minister as a day space or a day bed. The question is very direct: how many bed spaces is the minister counting for an exercise bike, which is a piece of gym equipment, which is now, by the minister’s own definition, a bed.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, the point of order should have been in relation to standing order 118(a) about relevance rather than a complete reiteration of the question and a debate. I remind the minister of the provisions of standing order 118(a). I call the Minister for Health.
MR CORBELL: The question is a complete mischaracterisation of the advice that has been provided by ACT Health. Those opposite may consider it funny and laugh about the importance of providing hydrotherapy relief for people who need it; they may think it is funny and laugh about making gym equipment available for people who need rehabilitation after surgery, but we do not think it is funny. We think it is important to provide people with the care they need.
Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker, on a point of order on relevance, the clear question is: how many beds are being counted as pieces of exercise equipment in the gym? The minister said and the statement from ACT Health said—
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Hanson. I think I have got the drift.
Mr Hanson: How many beds is an exercise bike?
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson! I have got the drift. I remind the minister of the provisions of standing order 118(a) and ask him to be directly relevant to the question—how many day bed spaces are provided by exercise bikes?
MR CORBELL: I have concluded my answer, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, will you now apologise to the public for cutting 60 hospital beds and reinstate those beds at the University of Canberra public hospital?
MR CORBELL: There is no apology required because this government is doing what it said it would do—what it has said it would do ever since 2012—and that is to provide a facility that delivers spaces for at least 215 people every day for subacute care at a purpose-built subacute hospital.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: I warn the Leader of the Opposition.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video