Page 2306 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 1 November 1989
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necessary, together with revised staffing arrangements, and work will be commencing shortly to plan the necessary changes.
All of those issues demonstrate a commitment by the Government to providing better resources for the mentally ill, but I think everybody will agree that there is always an argument at large which supports more resources for these sorts of facilities. I am quite certain, Mr Speaker, that the Government will take a sympathetic view in future budgets to the further development and improvement of facilities for the mentally ill.
Hospitals
MRS NOLAN: Again, my question is directed to the Minister for Community Services and Health. I draw his attention to the Kearney report recommendation that the one principal hospital plan be implemented within a three-year period. We all know the reasons for the Minister implementing his plan over a minimum of five to seven years. I wonder how the Minister can justify this time frame when in his statement yesterday he said that the redevelopment of the ACT public hospital system is urgent and essential.
MR BERRY: One of the things that I have learned in my very short association with the health portfolio, Mr Speaker, is the complexity of it. I am sure that Mrs Nolan would agree that the provision of health services in Canberra is a complex issue, and I am sure if she takes the trouble to have a close look at our hospitals she will agree even more so. The delivery of a first-class health system through three hospitals is a complex issue, particularly when the sorts of proposals which were recommended in the Kearney report are to be implemented, and the implementation requires the transfer of services and a comprehensive rebuilding and refurbishment of the hospital system.
The advice that the Government has taken is well sourced. It is sourced from responsible quantity surveyors that have long experience in the health industry. I have already ensured that members of the Liberal Party were introduced to people who deal with that sort of work, and they were briefed in relation to the complexities of the hospital system. I would hope that that briefing would have convinced them that it is a complex issue and that we ought to take their advice, that it will take five to seven years to deliver the full program.
One issue that has not been raised in the question by Mrs Nolan is the fact that it will take about a year to get the initial planning stages ready, more or less before a blow is struck. So it is a long process, but it is important to do it properly, to hasten slowly and to ensure that the Government's aim to deliver a first-class health system to the people of Canberra is one that we achieve, and achieve without too much disruption.
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