Page 3788 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I will be supporting Mr Corbell’s amendment today. I acknowledge that he has been very upfront in acknowledging some of the particular cultural issues that are faced at the hospital. I know that he is committed to seeking to tackle key issues facing our health system and I look forward to hearing the progress that he makes on those matters.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (5.30): The opposition will not be supporting the amendment and unless I have only got half of it, it seems to have run out of puff. I do not know if the minister was in a bit of a rush but there is no “calls on” in the one I have got. I do not know if that is different from the one that others have got but it just seems to peter out without any call to arms or action or indication that the minister is going to do anything. It just notes a range of things.
Mr Corbell: You could amend it.
MR HANSON: I think the minister has confirmed it is just a list of things, a list of stuff, some of which is good, some of it not so good.
I briefly refer to the amendment. It says that the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children has been a success. I think it is a real mixed bag. There are certainly some good facilities there but it was opened with fewer beds than were previously available and has led to women being pushed out of the hospital literally four hours after giving birth; and such a desperate situation is emerging that the government has been considering allocating postcodes for where you can give birth in this town.
The amendment talks about the two walk-in centres. We know the problems that the walk-in centres have had; that the staff at ED said it has caused many of the problems there. If you refer to Labor Party documents from 2008, which I am an avid fan of, you will see that the government actually promised three. They said that they would have three walk-in centres. That was not true. But we are used to being a little disappointed by what this government says and what they deliver. They are a sort of a two-thirds type government. They promise certain things.
Mr Coe: They got three but not all at the same time.
MR HANSON: That is right—two-thirds of what they promise. What you can guarantee, though, is that they will always exceed on price, they will always exceed on cost and the time it takes to deliver.
The University of Canberra public hospital, the 200-bed to 140-bed promise, is one. There is the Ngunnawal bush healing farm. No doubt Mr Wall can illuminate that but if that is an indication of how this government does things that probably explains the state of the health system. The secure mental health facility is a facility that this government promised would be open in 2011. It is a facility the government promised would cost $11 million. It is in the order of, I think, $30 million now. These are some of the highlights that the government is putting forward.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video