PERTH CHILDREN'S
HOSPITAL — AISHWARYA ASWATH
346. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question. How
can the public have any confidence in the minister fixing the crisis in the
emergency department of the Perth Children's Hospital given that the
crisis still exists, despite the profound and tragic wake-up call from
Aishwarya's death?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I reject the premise of the
question. The member for Cottesloe is the last person I would take advice from
on the health and wellbeing of Western Australians. In fact, he is the last person
I would take any advice from on any sort of
health matter. The last few days have been fairly informative. We have heard
from the member for Cottesloe on a number of issues in relation to
health. All I can say is that for the benefit of democracy we will welcome back
as soon as possible the member for Vasse. So far, the member for Cottesloe has
suggested that it will cost $93 million to bring staff back into the public
sector at Fiona Stanley Hospital—false. Yesterday, he said —
� that this state government has
failed to provide adequate mental health services in this state. As I will
point out, this state is the worst performing state in Australia in the
provision of mental health hospital services.
However,
as we all know, the average per capita spend on health in Australia is $256
versus $325 in WA. We cannot trust this man. He will come into this
place and speak untruths and he will come into this place and misrepresent the
actual situation.
Dr D.J. Honey: Worst bed rate
in Australia—deny that!
Mr R.H. COOK: Madam Speaker,
this is what he was like in grievances this morning as he sought to bully the
Minister for Planning on an issue that came up. The Minister for Planning
turned you inside out, sunshine, as she pointed out the hypocrisy of your
position! She pointed out that the member for Cottesloe would, on the one hand,
praise a particular development because he liked it, but would want the
Minister for Planning to ignore rules on other planning decisions that he does
not like.
Dr D.J. Honey: So you can't
answer the question.
Mr R.H. COOK: Once again, we
can see that this gentleman is quite frankly, despite the fact that he rules a party
of only two members in this place, inadequate and incapable of doing even that.
The SPEAKER: Just before I take the next question, I might
offer a little guidance here. A supplementary question is supposed to be
just that—it should be brief and to the point and ask something that
specifically pertains to the original question. If you ask a very broad,
open-ended supplementary question, you effectively are inviting quite a broad
answer from the minister. That needs to be taken into account. I would really
caution people to ask a more specific question as a supplementary and then I will
be more than willing to ask ministers to give more specific answers. But your
question was quite open ended and effectively opened up a whole new line of
questioning.
Visitors — Brunswick Junction Primary School and
Melville Senior High School
The
SPEAKER: Before I give the call to the member for Balcatta, there
are some important people I would like to
acknowledge. Firstly, on behalf of the member for Murray–Wellington I welcome
to the Parliament today principal Claire
Nicol and the year 6 students from Brunswick Junction Primary School. Also, on
behalf of the member for Bicton, I welcome to the Legislative Assembly
the year 11 and 12 economics students at Melville Senior High School.