Page 5241 - Week 16 - Thursday, 28 November 1991
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Minister assure the Assembly that the ACT Government will not be required by this agreement to force the ACT to reduce any of the environmental standards currently in place in the ACT?
MR WOOD: We have looked closely at that. I believe that that is the case. I will have a further look, lest Mr Jensen has any anxieties; but it has been very carefully matched up with what States want and with our existing provisions. Both of those are very high, and I think we have accommodated each of them.
Health Services
DR KINLOCH: My question is addressed to Mr Berry, as Minister for Health. I wonder whether Mr Berry could help us in this area. What is the nature of the relationship with the New South Wales Department of Health, especially with nearby health care areas in rural New South Wales? Is there, for example, consultation between you and the Minister of Health for New South Wales, or your offices and the nearby health care areas? In particular, what is the situation re that part of the ACT which is Jervis Bay?
MR BERRY: In relation to nearby New South Wales, the south-east region of New South Wales, it is well known that 25 per cent of the patients to whom the ACT hospital system provides services come from the south-east region of New South Wales. In terms of formal arrangements between the ACT and various organs of the New South Wales system in the south-east region, I do not have the detail of what might occur in relation to that.
I have not had a need to discuss the issue of the provision of health services in the ACT with the New South Wales Minister; but, if the need arises, I shall. He certainly has not contacted me with any desire to discuss the issue, although the New South Wales health system was very helpful recently when I visited Westmead Hospital in Sydney. So, I do not think there is any difficulty in having cooperative arrangements, as the need arises. Of course, it is well known that we at times transport patients who need special services to Sydney hospitals and other hospitals, as the need arises.
Some of these matters, of course, could be liaised through the New South Wales-ACT Consultative Forum as well. I can find out the formal arrangements, if you like, Dr Kinloch, and I can provide you with the information on that; but I do not have it at my fingertips at the moment.
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