Mr LUGG - 1999-04-29
My question follows on from a previous question, in the hope that it can help the Opposition Leader a bit with her obvious problem with economicus illiterus. The Leader of the Opposition in her budget reply stated, as 1 of the 3 clear points illustrating what she described as missed opportunities, that the budget ‘runs our hospitals down further, positioning them for privatisation by stealth’. Is this statement by the Leader of the Opposition based on any reason, or is it just another example of her obvious problem?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, when the Chief Minister rose to respond to the Leader of the Opposition yesterday, he suggested that those of us who have been covered by her rambling speech, including my own portfolio area, should roast her slowly. It had been my intention to ignore her comments because they were so cream-puff-like. But I have been stewing on this. Unlike the member for Jingili, it didn’t take me all night because only 20 pars in her speech relate to health. There were 2 or 3 more from member with shadow responsibility for rural health. I thought I really should revisit this in Question Time, so I am very grateful for the question.
At the end of the day what we’re looking at here is an attack on the hospitals and the people who work there. It’s a very serious business. It falls into the category of - not lying and distorting the truth, because it would be unparliamentary to say that - the grassy knoll theory that the Chief Minister has put forward. We’ve seen so far, since the visit of Mr Jones, the grassy knoll theories of the poll that we we’re factitiously involved in, the flower boxes that we’re factitiously involved in, unemployment figures going to the Leader of the Opposition that nobody else has, the claimed closing of Anzac Hill. Last week we had Tennant Creek Hospital closing. The budget papers show that Tennant Creek Hospital will be getting $6.29m. It is a terrible indictment on those opposite that they would choose to use a strategy of kicking a rumour into circulation and then calling on us to rebut it when a mere look at the budget papers would put most of the rumours to bed.
I can run quickly through the Leader of the Opposition’s comments because, as I said, there were only 20 pars. They were delivered in a journalesque style – breathy, whispering stuff about our ideological desire to walk away from providing hospital care for Territorians, which is just patent nonsense. The Leader of the Opposition quoted the Chief Minister when he was previously the minister for health talking about the necessity to put money into our hospitals. And that’s exactly why $20m is there. So when you look at ‘this attempt to run down our hospitals to such levels’ etc etc, it really flies in the face of the numbers that are printed in the budget papers.
‘The seemingly endless waits in emergency departments’. She talks about it being a nightmare to be sitting in accident and emergency. Accident and emergency departments around the world really are not the places that dreams are made of. They are places of trauma and places of stress. I don’t think she should be using the grief that comes out of those centres to somehow attack a budget paper.
I noted the interjection earlier when I said that it was an attack on staff. The opposition piously said: ‘No, no, it’s you guys.’ Talking about the occupancy rates at Royal Darwin Hospital, the Leader of the Opposition said: ‘And the hospital boss says, “No big deal”’. The hospital boss is a very hardworking man and the people who help him are hardworking people. They have a great responsibility. It is true that the hospital runs a very high occupancy rate. I don’t think it does her any good to be criticising these hardworking public servants.
I could run through each of the paragraphs, but I’ve done a quick synopsis. You can group the 20 paragraphs basically into 5 paragraphs of piffle, 10 paragraphs of waffle in journalistic style and 5 paragraphs that are patently wrong and can be proved so by a quick perusal of the budget papers. Sadly, there are zero paragraphs of policy. And it’s that last fact, I think, that Territorians who vote for all of us in the House should be focused on. The people opposite parade themselves as alternate government people. They are saying to Territorians: ‘Just give us a chance. We’ve been waiting in the queue a long time and it must be our turn. We’re sure we’ll do a good job’.
When we looked at privatisation of our hospital management, the Leader of the Opposition said: ‘Please don’t go ahead with it. There are alternatives, other ways to go’. She had a great opportunity during her budget reply to demonstrate what these might be. She could have demonstrated, not only as health spokesperson but as alternative government leader, what they would do with the hospital sector. It would have been a great opportunity for them to parade their bona fides to Territorians and show why they should be voted for. The interesting thing is that not one policy issue was paraded out. The entire budget reply focused on hospitals while the health sector, as we all know, is much vaster than that. It is a really sad indictment on the amount of time the Leader of the Opposition can put into this important portfolio. I make the suggestion also ...
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: There’s the cane toad!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr DUNHAM: I’m sure the suggestion put forward by the Chief Minister has some validity. She should shed herself of some of the onerous burden that she’s carrying and look for somebody who’s got a little more interest in health and an understanding of the fullness of the portfolio.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, when the Chief Minister rose to respond to the Leader of the Opposition yesterday, he suggested that those of us who have been covered by her rambling speech, including my own portfolio area, should roast her slowly. It had been my intention to ignore her comments because they were so cream-puff-like. But I have been stewing on this. Unlike the member for Jingili, it didn’t take me all night because only 20 pars in her speech relate to health. There were 2 or 3 more from member with shadow responsibility for rural health. I thought I really should revisit this in Question Time, so I am very grateful for the question.
At the end of the day what we’re looking at here is an attack on the hospitals and the people who work there. It’s a very serious business. It falls into the category of - not lying and distorting the truth, because it would be unparliamentary to say that - the grassy knoll theory that the Chief Minister has put forward. We’ve seen so far, since the visit of Mr Jones, the grassy knoll theories of the poll that we we’re factitiously involved in, the flower boxes that we’re factitiously involved in, unemployment figures going to the Leader of the Opposition that nobody else has, the claimed closing of Anzac Hill. Last week we had Tennant Creek Hospital closing. The budget papers show that Tennant Creek Hospital will be getting $6.29m. It is a terrible indictment on those opposite that they would choose to use a strategy of kicking a rumour into circulation and then calling on us to rebut it when a mere look at the budget papers would put most of the rumours to bed.
I can run quickly through the Leader of the Opposition’s comments because, as I said, there were only 20 pars. They were delivered in a journalesque style – breathy, whispering stuff about our ideological desire to walk away from providing hospital care for Territorians, which is just patent nonsense. The Leader of the Opposition quoted the Chief Minister when he was previously the minister for health talking about the necessity to put money into our hospitals. And that’s exactly why $20m is there. So when you look at ‘this attempt to run down our hospitals to such levels’ etc etc, it really flies in the face of the numbers that are printed in the budget papers.
‘The seemingly endless waits in emergency departments’. She talks about it being a nightmare to be sitting in accident and emergency. Accident and emergency departments around the world really are not the places that dreams are made of. They are places of trauma and places of stress. I don’t think she should be using the grief that comes out of those centres to somehow attack a budget paper.
I noted the interjection earlier when I said that it was an attack on staff. The opposition piously said: ‘No, no, it’s you guys.’ Talking about the occupancy rates at Royal Darwin Hospital, the Leader of the Opposition said: ‘And the hospital boss says, “No big deal”’. The hospital boss is a very hardworking man and the people who help him are hardworking people. They have a great responsibility. It is true that the hospital runs a very high occupancy rate. I don’t think it does her any good to be criticising these hardworking public servants.
I could run through each of the paragraphs, but I’ve done a quick synopsis. You can group the 20 paragraphs basically into 5 paragraphs of piffle, 10 paragraphs of waffle in journalistic style and 5 paragraphs that are patently wrong and can be proved so by a quick perusal of the budget papers. Sadly, there are zero paragraphs of policy. And it’s that last fact, I think, that Territorians who vote for all of us in the House should be focused on. The people opposite parade themselves as alternate government people. They are saying to Territorians: ‘Just give us a chance. We’ve been waiting in the queue a long time and it must be our turn. We’re sure we’ll do a good job’.
When we looked at privatisation of our hospital management, the Leader of the Opposition said: ‘Please don’t go ahead with it. There are alternatives, other ways to go’. She had a great opportunity during her budget reply to demonstrate what these might be. She could have demonstrated, not only as health spokesperson but as alternative government leader, what they would do with the hospital sector. It would have been a great opportunity for them to parade their bona fides to Territorians and show why they should be voted for. The interesting thing is that not one policy issue was paraded out. The entire budget reply focused on hospitals while the health sector, as we all know, is much vaster than that. It is a really sad indictment on the amount of time the Leader of the Opposition can put into this important portfolio. I make the suggestion also ...
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: There’s the cane toad!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr DUNHAM: I’m sure the suggestion put forward by the Chief Minister has some validity. She should shed herself of some of the onerous burden that she’s carrying and look for somebody who’s got a little more interest in health and an understanding of the fullness of the portfolio.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016