Page 3533 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 12 October 1994
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Warts and moles tend to be dealt with in general practitioners' rooms. Having a wart or a mole removed is not what happens in the day surgery unit at Woden Valley Hospital. Day surgery processes now are very complex procedures that only a few years ago would have involved a one-, two- or three-day stay in hospital.
Again, if you want, I can quote to you what Ron Phillips said when explaining all this in the New South Wales Parliament. Productivity of a hospital, the effectiveness of a hospital, says Ron Phillips, is important; you do not blandly count beds. If you want to count beds, Liberals, at least get it right. Do not mislead. Be sufficiently strong in yourselves to admit that yesterday you were wrong, and apologise for the innuendo and for accusing me of misleading. Every time we come into this place we all use some political rhetoric. You say things about us, and we say things about you. When I quote numbers, I quote from information given to me by my officials. I do not mind if you call me a liar. But when Mrs Carnell says, as she did yesterday, "Oh, the officials! It is wrong information. I know the truth. What you are saying is wrong" - when she knows that it was official information - she should apologise.
Madam Speaker, I table the note that I received late yesterday evening, showing where Mrs Carnell and the Liberals are wrong, and the note that I received today, showing where Mrs Carnell and the Liberals are wrong. I will run through the breakdown of the 584 beds in the hospital. There are 309 medical/surgical; 56 paediatric; 87 neonatal/obstetrics; 27 rehabilitation; 32 psychiatric; 30 intensivist care, being intensive care and high dependency; 23 geriatrics; and 20 - not 80; wrong again, Mrs Carnell - dialysis; a total of 584 beds. The number of scheduled beds for which funding has been provided but in regard to which we are having problems recruiting nurses, as I have repeatedly said, includes: two in medical/surgery, four in paediatrics, six in neonatal/obstetrics and four in intensivist care; a total of 16. That totals the 600, which I said in this Assembly earlier was our target. Mr Fraser advised me that in June we had the funding in place to achieve it. I table those documents.
Finance Brokers Licence
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is to the Attorney-General. On 16 June I asked the Attorney-General what the hold-up was which prevented consideration by the Consumer Affairs Bureau of the granting of a finance brokers licence to Mr Rick Reeks of Capital Business Services. The Attorney-General told the Assembly at the time, "It often may take a long time to approve a company for a credit licence". First of all, it needs to be pointed out that Mr Reeks was not applying for a credit licence - not that you get it wrong, Minister, of course; I realise that that does not happen. I am sure that there was no adviser who gave you the wrong information either. In fact, he has applied for a finance brokers licence, which means, of course, that he wants to deal in securities, not credit. I ask the Attorney-General: Given that Mr Reeks still has not received a hearing before the Credit Tribunal, why has it taken over eight months for the application by Mr Reeks, a businessman proposing to employ Canberrans, to be considered? How many other examples are there of businesses unable to proceed because they are waiting eight months for a licence? When will Mr Reeks's application go before the Credit Tribunal?
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