Page 1634 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 30 April 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Hospital Services Budget
MR WOOD: I direct a question to Mr Humphries, as Minister for Health. Mr Humphries, the Enfield report exposed letter shuffling between the office of the Minister for Health and the Chief Minister when the interim board called for help with its budget problems. Minister, why did you not consult with the board before you withdrew your endorsement of the board's strategy by changing the submission to the Chief Minister?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I did not withdraw endorsement of the board's strategy by changing any letters.
Mr Wood: You just did not agree with it, is that it?
MR HUMPHRIES: No, that is not the case at all.
Mr Wood: You just did not like it - - -
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Wood!
MR HUMPHRIES: If Mr Wood would like to hear the answer, he can remain silent and he will. Mr Speaker, I received a letter via, I think it was, by that stage, the acting chairman of the Interim Hospitals Board, to the Chief Minister on the hospitals funding base. I considered that letter and duly signed the letter that had been given to me by the acting chairman and forwarded it to the Chief Minister's office. As Mr Wood well knows, having read the Enfield report, that letter did not, in fact, reach the Chief Minister. The letter was withdrawn. I do not know where that original letter went, but certainly it was withdrawn.
Mr Wood: Who withdrew it then?
MR HUMPHRIES: I certainly did not do that.
Mr Berry: Yes, you did.
MR HUMPHRIES: No, I did not; that is not true.
Mr Berry: You signed its replacement; you signed both of them; you withdrew it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, the fact that I signed the replacement does not prove - - -
Mr Berry: You approved the withdrawal.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I did not approve the withdrawal; that clearly is not the case. I think that if you read the report carefully you will see that that is not the case.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .