Page 465 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 May 1992
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Mr Humphries: Innocent people as well.
MR CONNOLLY: Indeed. That type of violent activity and anyone who condones or encourages it here, I think, would deserve condemnation from us all. I share their concern, as we all would, I am sure, about material that demeans women; but I do not think a censorship approach - a Joh Bjelke-Petersen approach - is the way to achieve it. All it does is force it underground. In the X-rated video debate, I can recall, at one stage, saying to Dennis, "Look, Dennis, one day you are going to want to ban Playboy", and he jokingly said, "No", but here we have a campaign that wants to ban Pix and People magazines, and I think that really is quite silly.
School Dental Service
MR MOORE: My question, I believe, is directed to Mr Berry as Minister for Health, but he may wish to refer it to the Minister for Education. Parents have been informed that the School Dental Service will be withdrawn from schools and that children requiring school dental examination or treatment will need to be taken to a central location by their parents. With your commitment to social justice, and since this change is likely to have most impact on those who are already most disadvantaged socially, what action are you intending to take to protect the teeth of such children?
MR BERRY: I thank Mr Moore for the question. The School Dental Service has been the subject of some attention in Health since this Government came to office. Recently some community based cluster clinics have been established. This arises from the Grants Commission's recognition that the ACT School Dental Service is overfunded compared with those of other States.
In 1991 our management improvement plan for dental services proposed ways to enable the School Dental Service to be more cost efficient. The strategy that is being adopted involves changing the current system of providing dental care within all government primary schools to a system of regional or cluster clinics. Each clinic is to be permanent, servicing an area that will cover a number of government and private primary schools. There will be no changes to service delivery for children attending a base school. Children from the nominated feeder schools will be seen on an appointment basis. Two pilot cluster clinics were established in 1991 - one in the northern suburb of Spence and the other in the southern suburb of Curtin. These clinics have proved to be very successful and have received minimal adverse comment from parents whose children use the service. I am pleased to advise the Assembly that all children will continue to be provided with the highest quality of dental care.
That, Madam Speaker, is an approach which is being taken by the Government to maintain services in recognition of the Grants Commission's assessment of the ACT position. Undoubtedly, some parents would prefer the convenience of having every school with a dental clinic in it, but we have a wider obligation to the rest of the community and have to reduce funding for dental clinics on a suburb-by-suburb basis. I think the pilot cluster clinics will prove to be of advantage to the community. Where there are needs to adjust the way that we deliver this service to the community, of course we will consider them in the context of better dental care for the people of the ACT.
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