Mr HENDERSON - 1999-11-24
My question concerns the continuing lack of an interpreter service for indigenous Territorians. Dedicated health professionals can provide numerous examples of instances where patients have been treated surgically without informed consent because no interpreters were available. I seek leave to table a letter from Dr Anthony Page of Royal Darwin Hospital.
Leave granted.
Mr HENDERSON: He gives as the first of 3 examples the case of Mrs E, a young traditional woman from Arnhem Land who required a caesarian section. Consent for the anaesthetic couldn’t be obtained as no interpreter was available. Ms E underwent the operation without a satisfactory consent being obtained. Minister, do you acknowledge that your inability and unwillingness to fund interpreter services results in surgical procedures like caesarian sections being performed without informed consent? Isn’t it a fact that appropriately, if this patient had been Greek, Italian, East Timorese etc, an interpreter would have been made available for their care, no matter what the hour?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I’d like to look at the letter. The opposition normally runs one case and then makes a global generalisation.
Well, I’ll make a generalisation straight-up, and that is that it’s a disgrace and we should all take some responsibility for it. We talked about indigenous education yesterday. It is a disgrace to my mind that Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory who have been exposed to 10 years of schooling – or the opportunity of 10 years of schooling - are in a situation in the Northern Territory and other parts of Australia where an interpreter service is still required. As I said yesterday, that in itself is an indictment against the social engineers who have helped lead Aboriginal people into that situation in the future.
To come up with a program such as an interpreter service, in the Northern Territory or elsewhere, to my mind is akin to providing a wheelchair for someone who should be able to walk. That is a simple fact. And this is not blaming the victim. This is very simple. If we want to move on with better outcomes for Aboriginal people in education or health or interpreter services or elsewhere, it is about time politicians who get paid plenty of money did some plain speaking.
The Aboriginal Interpreter Service that has been set up has been set up as a first step. I made that particularly clear. We would have a registration and accreditation system for the interpreters who are available presently in the Northern Territory. That was identified as a strong need in the submissions and in discussions I had with the legal fraternity and others. Certainly, we will see how that particular first step works as we continue to analyse and evaluate and cost a move to a further need for an interpreter service. That will happen through the normal budgetary process as that evaluation occurs. I might add that the step that we have taken at the moment with the Aboriginal Interpreter Service is a further step than many other jurisdictions in Australia have.
With regard to the health situation, I will take that letter and I will have a look at one doctor’s opinion of one patient. But in general terms ...
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: I don’t really care what you think, but I will tell you my opinion. I am yet to be convinced entirely that an Aboriginal interpreter service at some cost - and I have in this House said how much the cost would escalate to - would replace in terms of a better explanation to the client those services that are already available through Territory Health Services at Royal Darwin Hospital, where members of the family …
Mr Ah Kit: You’re pathetic.
Mr BURKE: The member for Arnhem says; ‘You’re pathetic’. That’s pretty normal. ‘You’re pathetic. I’m going to have a giggle. I’m going to the casino’. That’s the contribution you generally make to this debate.
Territory Health Services at Royal Darwin Hospital in particular uses extended family members and those who can assist the client on an informal basis, but through a procedure that starts at the community, using the experienced nurses at the community to ensure that the client gets the best attention at the hospital and has the procedures explained, often at the cost of accommodation costs for people who are there to assist in those sorts of things.
In most respects, it works extremely well. If one is saying an interpreter service will then come on top of that, that’s where the heavy resource issues come in. The government needs to evaluate what sort of interpreter service needs to be provided, in addition to the service that’s currently there.
Leave granted.
Mr HENDERSON: He gives as the first of 3 examples the case of Mrs E, a young traditional woman from Arnhem Land who required a caesarian section. Consent for the anaesthetic couldn’t be obtained as no interpreter was available. Ms E underwent the operation without a satisfactory consent being obtained. Minister, do you acknowledge that your inability and unwillingness to fund interpreter services results in surgical procedures like caesarian sections being performed without informed consent? Isn’t it a fact that appropriately, if this patient had been Greek, Italian, East Timorese etc, an interpreter would have been made available for their care, no matter what the hour?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I’d like to look at the letter. The opposition normally runs one case and then makes a global generalisation.
Well, I’ll make a generalisation straight-up, and that is that it’s a disgrace and we should all take some responsibility for it. We talked about indigenous education yesterday. It is a disgrace to my mind that Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory who have been exposed to 10 years of schooling – or the opportunity of 10 years of schooling - are in a situation in the Northern Territory and other parts of Australia where an interpreter service is still required. As I said yesterday, that in itself is an indictment against the social engineers who have helped lead Aboriginal people into that situation in the future.
To come up with a program such as an interpreter service, in the Northern Territory or elsewhere, to my mind is akin to providing a wheelchair for someone who should be able to walk. That is a simple fact. And this is not blaming the victim. This is very simple. If we want to move on with better outcomes for Aboriginal people in education or health or interpreter services or elsewhere, it is about time politicians who get paid plenty of money did some plain speaking.
The Aboriginal Interpreter Service that has been set up has been set up as a first step. I made that particularly clear. We would have a registration and accreditation system for the interpreters who are available presently in the Northern Territory. That was identified as a strong need in the submissions and in discussions I had with the legal fraternity and others. Certainly, we will see how that particular first step works as we continue to analyse and evaluate and cost a move to a further need for an interpreter service. That will happen through the normal budgetary process as that evaluation occurs. I might add that the step that we have taken at the moment with the Aboriginal Interpreter Service is a further step than many other jurisdictions in Australia have.
With regard to the health situation, I will take that letter and I will have a look at one doctor’s opinion of one patient. But in general terms ...
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: I don’t really care what you think, but I will tell you my opinion. I am yet to be convinced entirely that an Aboriginal interpreter service at some cost - and I have in this House said how much the cost would escalate to - would replace in terms of a better explanation to the client those services that are already available through Territory Health Services at Royal Darwin Hospital, where members of the family …
Mr Ah Kit: You’re pathetic.
Mr BURKE: The member for Arnhem says; ‘You’re pathetic’. That’s pretty normal. ‘You’re pathetic. I’m going to have a giggle. I’m going to the casino’. That’s the contribution you generally make to this debate.
Territory Health Services at Royal Darwin Hospital in particular uses extended family members and those who can assist the client on an informal basis, but through a procedure that starts at the community, using the experienced nurses at the community to ensure that the client gets the best attention at the hospital and has the procedures explained, often at the cost of accommodation costs for people who are there to assist in those sorts of things.
In most respects, it works extremely well. If one is saying an interpreter service will then come on top of that, that’s where the heavy resource issues come in. The government needs to evaluate what sort of interpreter service needs to be provided, in addition to the service that’s currently there.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016