Page 2593 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 15 November 1989
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MR COLLAERY (4.25): I think the first light was thrown on this debate in the last few comments by Minister Grassby when she said, "We have made a hard decision on the matter". One waits to know what it is. Presumably she is referring to a Cabinet decision of which we are not yet apprised. In case they were just throwaway lines, Mr Speaker, the Resident Rally's view on the hospital issue is recorded in early debates in this Assembly. For example, in June, in response to a question asked by Mr Moore about a staffing crisis in the hospital system, Mr Berry indicated at page 564 of Hansard of 27 to 29 June that there was no crisis. He said:
In response to the member's final point as to whether the Royal Canberra Hospital is in crisis, it is not in crisis.
I think the Chief Minister denied that there was a crisis. We can play with language, but when you have health providers and health carers - dedicated people, in major part - wanting to go on strike, wanting to withdraw services, as we have seen, and which we may suffer yet, that is a crisis in my language.
We do have dedicated health providers, but they need leadership; they need something at present, and they are all calling for it. Unless the Minister does something dramatic, and his Government has the capacity to do it, the discordant voices, sometimes cast against each other, not yet united, of the HEF, the ANF, the TLC and the doctors - imagine it - may get together when they have had enough because reasonable people finally revolt when there is a crisis of this nature. What is more to the point is that the community may revolt because we are surely sick of this mess and there are decisions being taken in cloistered situations. We are having to rely on leaks and documents because we are not receiving the full, open, consultative treatment that was promised by this Government.
Mr Berry: Weren't you listening for the last half an hour, Bernard?
MR COLLAERY: Mr Minister, early in the budget process your Government committed itself to achieving a balanced budget, yet you will continue to work towards those objectives. Throughout Hansard, as I look in the indexes, there is indicator after indicator of malaise in the health system. Admittedly, you are dealing with a legacy, and certainly it is a Federal legacy. But when do you start action on the legacy? When are you going to have a bureaucratic shake-up? When are you going to take action to get the poly-optimum principles going in relation to nursing and staffing and all the rest of it?
When are you going to look at the levels 3 and 4 nursing situation that has attracted some criticism? When are you going to look at this internecine battle between the HEF
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