Dr LIM - 2005-08-23
Your nurses in Alice Springs and the Australian Nursing Federation NT Branch are angry about your broken promises to fix up their overloaded working conditions, such as 150 nursing shifts unable to be filled in the last roster in just one ward. The nurses are so angry that they are now handing out these postcards. These postcards are being handed out by the thousands in Alice Springs …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: ‘I See Red’, … and on the back is the direct address of the Minister for Health. The nurses are so angry that they are now handing out these postcards by the thousands to all members of the Alice Springs community to sign and send to the minister.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, what is the question here? Can we get to the question, please, member for Greatorex?
Dr LIM: I just want to show you …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, order! Member for Greatorex, could we please come to the question?
Dr LIM: I want to read this quote and I will come to the question.
Madam SPEAKER: If you could be a bit fast about it.
Dr LIM: Well, I am getting all these interjections …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: This postcard says: Please …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam Speaker, Question Time is an opportunity for the opposition, Independents and other members to ask questions of ministers. The member for Greatorex is not asking a question. He is actually reading a statement, not on a postcard, but onfrom some pamphlet that is being distributed in Alice Springs. I would ask him to table the pamphlet and ask his question.
Madam SPEAKER: Are you willing to table the pamphlet?
Dr LIM: I willingly table this postcard …
Madam SPEAKER: Would you please ask the question, member for Greatorex?
Dr LIM: My question to the minister is: when will you fix up the woeful conditions and safety conditions at the Alice Springs Hospital?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a bit hard to take it seriously when you get these sort of antics. The first thing I can say is that, maybe the address is wrong because I didhave not received any. If they have handed out thousands they are obviously not mailing too many to me.
I find it pretty rich to think that the member for Greatorex presided over a hospital that had 39 less nurses in it. It had a building that had been overdone so that it looked nice and pretty, but now that we are looking and seeing what sort of functionalities are in that building, there is nothing to be proud at the hospital that this charlatan presided over when he was Minister for Central Australia. Thank God he was never the Health minister.
I have met with the nurses. The ANF had a meeting there. So, how angry were they? They did not pass a resolution to take any action out of that meeting. The union organiser said a few things in the media, but, hey, we are coming into a nursing EBA, . so wWhen unions are making comments in the media at the moment, you have to take it very carefully knowing that that process is coming up. We know that EBAs are a time where both sides get into a bit of argy bargy to try to make the point.
In terms of the general way in which the hospital is travelling, I will tell you, member for Greatorex, what we have achieved in the time that I have been Minister for Health. We now have a full set of clinical leaders in that hospital -– anaesthetists, intensivists, surgeons, emergency care, and clinicians. We have 39 more nurses. We have infinitely more capacity in units such as Intensive Care and Renal Care. The hospital is being .
The hospital itself is being rebuilt to a properly set up facility so that it can do the job it is meant to do for people in Alice Springs.
I am very proud of the progress we have made in Alice Springs. Unlike the member for Greatorex, I get around the nursing staff – not just a couple of them over a cup of coffee - I go around to every ward, I talk to the nurses and take their issues on board, as does hospital management.
We are working our way through this and, while you might want to play opportunist politics, I am going to continue to build the capacity of Alice Springs Hospital to serve the people of Alice Springs, and I will do it according to the facts, logic and evidence. That is the way we will have a much better hospital over time.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: ‘I See Red’, … and on the back is the direct address of the Minister for Health. The nurses are so angry that they are now handing out these postcards by the thousands to all members of the Alice Springs community to sign and send to the minister.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, what is the question here? Can we get to the question, please, member for Greatorex?
Dr LIM: I just want to show you …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, order! Member for Greatorex, could we please come to the question?
Dr LIM: I want to read this quote and I will come to the question.
Madam SPEAKER: If you could be a bit fast about it.
Dr LIM: Well, I am getting all these interjections …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: This postcard says: Please …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam Speaker, Question Time is an opportunity for the opposition, Independents and other members to ask questions of ministers. The member for Greatorex is not asking a question. He is actually reading a statement, not on a postcard, but onfrom some pamphlet that is being distributed in Alice Springs. I would ask him to table the pamphlet and ask his question.
Madam SPEAKER: Are you willing to table the pamphlet?
Dr LIM: I willingly table this postcard …
Madam SPEAKER: Would you please ask the question, member for Greatorex?
Dr LIM: My question to the minister is: when will you fix up the woeful conditions and safety conditions at the Alice Springs Hospital?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a bit hard to take it seriously when you get these sort of antics. The first thing I can say is that, maybe the address is wrong because I didhave not received any. If they have handed out thousands they are obviously not mailing too many to me.
I find it pretty rich to think that the member for Greatorex presided over a hospital that had 39 less nurses in it. It had a building that had been overdone so that it looked nice and pretty, but now that we are looking and seeing what sort of functionalities are in that building, there is nothing to be proud at the hospital that this charlatan presided over when he was Minister for Central Australia. Thank God he was never the Health minister.
I have met with the nurses. The ANF had a meeting there. So, how angry were they? They did not pass a resolution to take any action out of that meeting. The union organiser said a few things in the media, but, hey, we are coming into a nursing EBA, . so wWhen unions are making comments in the media at the moment, you have to take it very carefully knowing that that process is coming up. We know that EBAs are a time where both sides get into a bit of argy bargy to try to make the point.
In terms of the general way in which the hospital is travelling, I will tell you, member for Greatorex, what we have achieved in the time that I have been Minister for Health. We now have a full set of clinical leaders in that hospital -– anaesthetists, intensivists, surgeons, emergency care, and clinicians. We have 39 more nurses. We have infinitely more capacity in units such as Intensive Care and Renal Care. The hospital is being .
The hospital itself is being rebuilt to a properly set up facility so that it can do the job it is meant to do for people in Alice Springs.
I am very proud of the progress we have made in Alice Springs. Unlike the member for Greatorex, I get around the nursing staff – not just a couple of them over a cup of coffee - I go around to every ward, I talk to the nurses and take their issues on board, as does hospital management.
We are working our way through this and, while you might want to play opportunist politics, I am going to continue to build the capacity of Alice Springs Hospital to serve the people of Alice Springs, and I will do it according to the facts, logic and evidence. That is the way we will have a much better hospital over time.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016