Page 4416 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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Mr Hanson simply does not want to take up the opportunity to be able to contribute to legislation. Clearly, he would prefer that the Labor Party and the Greens walk in here with the numbers and jam it through as a done deal. Then he will stand up and complain that there is no opportunity for him to have input. So he cannot decide what he wants. I thought they taught strategic thinking at military school. I would love to see the academic transcript because clearly Mr Hanson failed it.
Question resolved in the affirmative, with the concurrence of an absolute majority.
Sitting suspended from 12.30 to 2.30 pm.
Questions without notice
Hospitals—Centenary Hospital for Women and Children
MADAM SPEAKER: Does the Leader of the Opposition have a festive question without notice?
MR HANSON: I would not describe it as a festive question, but I have one anyway. My question is to the Minister for Health. The review into the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children by Women’s Healthcare Australasia states that Queanbeyan Hospital has “more robust leadership and better working relationships amongst clinicians compared to those at the Centenary hospital”. It says also that there is a “reluctance of existing midwives to work within the birthing centre “and, further, that a “more detailed and refined work plan for the Centenary hospital would be beneficial”. Minister, what steps are you taking to improve the leadership and relationships in this hospital to make it at least equal to Queanbeyan?
MS GALLAGHER: I will argue that the quality of staff and leadership at the hospital is equal to Queanbeyan. I think we are very well served by it. I can see that the Liberal Party have done their usual thing, which is to go through a review and go, “What is the most negative thing we can find in this review?” and then phrase their question about that. You actually overlook the content of the review, which was to look at the model of care and to look at the facilities available. In both of those respects, this review confirms that it is a high quality model of care and that the facilities have been built to meet the demand that is expected over the coming years.
The leadership at the hospital is first rate, Mr Hanson, and I should know because I work with these individuals very closely. I know exactly how hard they work. I know the huge pressure they have been under, and they have been. And it has gone through change because the concerns that were raised by some of the VMO obstetricians around the operations at Canberra hospital in the obstetric unit, which is well discussed here, did result in significant change at the senior levels at Canberra Hospital. Some of the impact of that is still ongoing. These are hard matters. They are not easy to solve. But the commitment of staff to the work that they do and the care that they provide to women is second to none.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
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