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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 2035 ..

MR STEFANIAK

be covered and seeing their premiums increase tenfold. Something needs to be done, and something needs to be done fairly quickly.

I can appreciate the need for not having a knee-jerk reaction. But it has been two years. It has been, I think, well over 12 months since we passed the first tranche. Some of what the Chief Minister is suggesting is very good, but the legislation will not be introduced until tomorrow week, it won't be debated until August, and that may well be far too late for some groups. And then, I wonder from what he is saying whether it will be enough.

Commonsense has to prevail and I am pleased to see some of it starting to come through the courts. I am also very pleased to see some commonsense starting to come through in the legislation of other states. We do not have to blindly follow other states' legislation for the sake of it but when it is good, sensible legislation, what is wrong with doing that?

It worries me greatly, Mr Speaker, that statutes of limitation, which traditionally were six years and then effectively extended to seven, have more recently, in certain instances, blown out to 20 or 25 years. I think I mentioned some months ago that I had the honour to be the auctioneer at an excellent bushfire levy raffle and that Dr Phelps from the AMA, the local president, Dr Pryor, and others were present. They told me that the biggest single worry they had-and it wasn't just in respect of obstetricians and specialists-was medical professional indemnity insurance.

For some reason this seems to have hit doctors more than other groups. The premiums for lawyers have probably gone up but I have not had too many complaints. However, compared with, say, 15 or 20 years ago, the premiums are now very much greater than they were. But, certainly, it is a very significant problem for doctors and it is one of the major reasons that doctors are leaving the profession in droves.

I take some umbrage at the Chief Minister typecasting doctors or even specialists as being incredibly wealthy people. This is something that not only affects specialists-although in the John James situation a group of specialists, who will be particularly hard hit, are taking, in my view, quite understandable action-but also general practitioners. It is not just that we have problems with Medicare and bulk-billing. Yes, that is part of the reason, but the main problem according to the doctors I talk to-and I talk to quite a few-seems to be insurance, and in many instances that seems to be the straw that has broken the camel's back.

I went into bat for Dr Berenson back in May, I think, of last year. I was pleased to see, after a bit of pressure on the minister at the time-I think it was the planning minister-the doctor was able to continue his practice. But at the end of the day the doctor had just simply had enough with all the pressures, including the medical insurance pressure. It was just a little bit too much and he has gone off and is working somewhere else.

My own doctor, who recommended my current doctor at Higgins-and I hope to goodness that that surgery stays there-had enough and he now works at Calvary Hospital. He was a bloke who never made much out of medicine. He was a good local GP who certainly virtually bulk-billed everyone he could see. I had a better income so he didn't worry with me, but he certainly was most fair. But, again, it just simply was not worth his while.

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