Page 4694 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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Above-the-Line Voting
MR HUMPHRIES: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. I refer her to a statement made by Mr Berry on ABC radio yesterday. On the subject of above-the-line voting, he told ABC listeners, "We have dropped that". Can the Chief Minister assure the Assembly that her Government will not - now or ever - seek to reintroduce any form of above-the-line voting as an option under Hare-Clark without first holding a referendum on the subject?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, this is part of Mr Humphries's little stunt. What he could not stand, of course, was Mr Berry having said, quite accurately, that we have dropped that, as indeed we have. Madam Speaker, given that the Government is running up until 18 February, I can most certainly give Mr Humphries that assurance. If he wants to ask questions about any future government, then I suggest that he is out of order. I would indicate to him, Madam Speaker, that, having comprehensively dropped that matter, as we have, we certainly have no plans to revive it.
Ambulance Service
MR STEFANIAK: My question is directed to the Minister for Health, but it extends into another one of his portfolio areas as well. Minister, is it true that the resources of the ACT Ambulance Service are frequently stretched beyond acceptable limits? Is it not the case that, on an increasing number of occasions, police officers are having to drive ambulances to Canberra hospitals because of a shortage of ambulance crews? Can the Minister advise why this is occurring?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, Mr Stefaniak is a significant improvement on Mrs Carnell - just about anybody would be a significant improvement on Mrs Carnell - in that his question is about half right. He is right in saying that, increasingly, police officers are driving ambulances; but he is quite wrong in suggesting that it is because of some resource or staffing crisis within the Ambulance Service. The fact is that the ACT Ambulance Service, uniquely in Australia, has all of its officers who are out on the road trained at the very highest level of paramedical training. Both members of the two-person ambulance crews are very highly trained. In some parts of Australia, ambulances operate with lower levels of training or with one officer who is very well trained and one officer who is, effectively, a driver.
Recently I happened to witness a very serious incident from beginning to end. I was out with the ambulance supervisor, and they responded to an emergency call. In the event of a serious motor vehicle accident, in particular, where you may have a number of patients injured who may be suffering from multiple traumas, what tends to happen in the ACT is that the ambulance crews work very hard to stabilise the patient at the scene of the accident, with the cooperation of fire officers and police officers. It is wonderful to see
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