Page 639 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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legitimate, and to date we have not had a minister who is prepared to take them seriously. We hope that this external review will lead to people being able to tell their stories and get to the bottom of these issues. (Time expired.)
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (4.31): Some years ago when there was a crisis in GP numbers, we had a health minister who threw her hands in the air and said, “Don’t you know there’s nothing I can do about this.” As a result of the actions of the then shadow health minister, we actually got lots of action. We got action because it was brought to the attention of the public that there were plenty of things that could be done, including this place setting up a committee, which came up with a number of recommendations. It was only when others acted that this minister suddenly realised she had some responsibility and she had something to do, so she set up a GP task force, immediately giving the lie to the statement that there was nothing that she could do. This is the problem that we face now.
This problem is about leadership and the problem is about confidence in the system. Today in question time the minister said that there has been a 10-year war in obstetrics and that there was a long and troubled history in obstetrics. The Minister for Health admits that she became aware of this long and troubled history, this war in obstetrics, in 2005. She became the Minister for Health in April 2006, and yet she apparently has done nothing to rectify this situation, this war, this long and troubled history, for almost four years.
It goes to ministerial responsibility and it goes to what actions ministers undertake when they know there is something in their portfolio that needs action. The simple answer is that this minister, who freely admitted in this place that she was aware of the problems in obstetrics, has done nothing for four years. We are now at a stage of frustration on behalf of some doctors and we now, I suspect, have a sense of absolute and total dismay on behalf of some patients who have had adverse outcomes.
Ms Gallagher: Alleged.
MR SMYTH: Alleged adverse outcomes. Alleged. There we go.
Ms Gallagher: Well, just be careful. Don’t say that outside the chamber.
Mr Seselja: I think the adverse outcomes are either there or they’re not. It is about what caused them.
MR SMYTH: Well, you know, I would have thought a perforated uterus and a perforated bowel was a little bit more than alleged. I would have thought it was a little more than alleged, and I think the minister should be a little bit more careful in what she says.
Again, her initial response was to attack those who sought to hold her accountable: “There’s no problem here. There’s nothing wrong here. This is the best it can be.” Yet, by her own action in admitting that there has to be a number of external reviews, we now know that there is something wrong. The minister likes to attack Mr Hanson. Well, Mr Hanson did not put this story on ABC; people who were affected went to the ABC.
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