Page 3891 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The government, unfortunately, is good at distorting facts, as we have seen over this whole issue in regard to access block. But the fact is that when we look at the management of hospitals, we have put forward what we believe to be a very good proposal in terms of hospital boards. The fact is that Jon Stanhope abolished the hospital board-type situation in 2001 because he is ideologically opposed to independence. He imposed a bureaucratic regime on the then Woden Valley Hospital. Ever since, we know it has proved to be a cumbersome disaster, wreaking havoc on hapless staff at all levels and patients alike, because we have seen increases in every area.
The government says, “We are addressing this”. After six years, three health ministers, hundreds of plans flying around the place and the biggest budget since self-government, we would hope that there would be some better improvement than we have seen now. We are not just talking about the dedicated medical staff, the surgeons, general practitioners, pathologists and the like; we are talking about what I have just said: the very dedicated nurses, wardsmen, emergency support staff and administrators—those people on the front line. Whenever we push a pen to make a decision in one area, we have to make sure that those people on the front line are going to actually be able to work the system in the way that it says on the paper.
The feedback I am getting is that that is not happening. In regard to the many things that the minister stands up to gloat over and tell us how wonderful they are, that is not the feedback I am getting. Again, she will be in denial, because she will say I am making it up or some such ridiculous waffle. I do not make things up. I do tell her when I have got issues.
I have had nurses contacting me, and I still do. I have had two this week. They are scared to speak out. Whether or not the minister denies that, that is another issue. They are scared to speak out because of reprisal. I think it is an unfortunate situation where you have got people on the front line who could improve things but they are scared to speak to their line above because of reprisal. I think that is another area we need to look at.
We see again how the government can distort things. We have got the largest budget of any department or agency in the ACT. Yet it is rather unfortunate—I do not know who this was down to, and I have not quite got to the bottom of it yet—that the minister was only asked to be made available for one hour. I think that is a travesty. I am sure she would have stayed longer. This was a disappointment, because we had many more questions to ask and we wanted to make sure that we got all the facts, because that is what the minister likes. She likes me to have the facts. So it was disappointing that only one hour was given to the minister at those hearings.
I will touch on something the Chief Minister said. He said that this is a city that responds. Unfortunately, I do not think this is a government that responds, certainly not in a timely way. Today, we have seen a government playing catch-up, a government finding, “We have got some money in the piggy bank, let us go spend.” In the meantime they are making the people of Canberra wait for things that should and could have been implemented in the June budget.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .