Mr BELL - 1997-02-19
The Federal Industry Commission's report for the Council of Australian Governments, on which the Chief Minister himself sits, states that this government's clearance figures for elective surgery are the worst in the country. This was reported at the weekend in the Australian Financial Review and in The Australian. Does the minister and his old, tired Country Liberal Party administration accept responsibility for this clear indication of 20 years of failure by the Territory's health system?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, my answer to the honourable member is the same as the one I gave him in the budget debate on 18 September 1996. His question is no different. The figures he quoted are outdated, as I told him at that time. He is relying on and peddling outdated information.
Mr BELL: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I am sick and tired of ministers using Question Time to say what should be said only by way of substantive motion.
Mr Stone: Is it true?
Mr SPEAKER: If the minister believes the information is outdated, he has the right to say so.
Mr BURKE: The member for MacDonnell was quoting figures from a survey that covered the period January to June 1995. In answer to that question in the budget debate on 18 September 1996, I said to him:
Firm statistics for individual Northern Territory public hospitals for 1995-96 are not yet available, but
total figures for the 5 Northern Territory public hospitals are as follows. Northern Territory elective
surgery waiting list numbers decreased from 2820 in June 1995 to 1840 in June 1996, a reduction of 34%.
Clearance time - that is, the length of time required to clear all patients from the waiting list if no
additional patients were added to the list - reduced from 9.9 months in August 1994, when the first national
survey was conducted, to 2.3 months in July 1996.
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He is peddling old information. He went on radio the other day and quoted a case that was raised in debate in this parliament in September 1996. If he updates his own information, I can give him updated information.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, my answer to the honourable member is the same as the one I gave him in the budget debate on 18 September 1996. His question is no different. The figures he quoted are outdated, as I told him at that time. He is relying on and peddling outdated information.
Mr BELL: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I am sick and tired of ministers using Question Time to say what should be said only by way of substantive motion.
Mr Stone: Is it true?
Mr SPEAKER: If the minister believes the information is outdated, he has the right to say so.
Mr BURKE: The member for MacDonnell was quoting figures from a survey that covered the period January to June 1995. In answer to that question in the budget debate on 18 September 1996, I said to him:
Firm statistics for individual Northern Territory public hospitals for 1995-96 are not yet available, but
total figures for the 5 Northern Territory public hospitals are as follows. Northern Territory elective
surgery waiting list numbers decreased from 2820 in June 1995 to 1840 in June 1996, a reduction of 34%.
Clearance time - that is, the length of time required to clear all patients from the waiting list if no
additional patients were added to the list - reduced from 9.9 months in August 1994, when the first national
survey was conducted, to 2.3 months in July 1996.
Page 1915
He is peddling old information. He went on radio the other day and quoted a case that was raised in debate in this parliament in September 1996. If he updates his own information, I can give him updated information.
Page 1916
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016