Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [5.08 p.m.]: Mr Acting-Speaker, I am sure that you also are concerned about what is happening with front-line services and the cutbacks to the North Coast Area Health Service. A few weeks ago I spoke about the cutting of the service of the palliative care social worker to the North Coast Area Health Service. The North Coast Area Health Service has now gone even lower than that. It has indicated that it is going to take away the chaplain from the Lismore Base Hospital. A former chaplain at the hospital sent me a document that states:

"There's nothing they can do for dad." Tears welled up as she replaced the pay phone near Accident and Emergency.

Ten minutes later on the hospital stairwell Jason's flushed face said it all. "It's inoperable." My enquiry about his father had briefly arrested his descending flight from the Surgical Ward. "Sorry, but I must go."

Twice within several minutes I had been confronted with the anguished face of very recent grief: raw unprocessed news that had to be told. And in that inflamed moment when our whole being longs to comfort, to carry some of the weight, we are painfully reminded of the paralysis of language and of our powerlessness. We have no answer. What is there to say?

They are the sorts of things that confront chaplains. The North Coast Area Health Service chief executive officer, Chris Crawford, said that other hospitals do not have chaplains and that the hospital administration had looked everywhere to make cutbacks. Other hospitals do not have orthopaedic surgeons. Does that mean that they will be the next to go? Why should our chaplain service be cut because some other hospital does not have one? This is all about the budget. That is what this State has come to expect from this Government. There is no consideration for the patients and their welfare. It is concerned only with cutting budgets so that it can pay its accounts. The North Coast Area Health Service simply wants to get its budget back on track. What about support for patients and the staff of the North Coast Area Health Service? I am not the only person complaining about the chaplain service being cut; the entire community is singing with one voice.

This announcement comes on top of the announcement about a review of the pain clinic. Time does not allow me to deal with that now, but it will be the subject of another private member's statement. When a person is told that they have an inoperable condition, where do they turn? Sadly, things have changed throughout the community. We can no longer rely on a chaplain from one of the mainstream religions responding within five minutes to a call for help. They are run off their feet and cannot hope to respond to everyone. The chaplain service has been at the hospital for 20 years. Now, for budgetary reasons, it is being cut. It is seen as dispensable because no other hospital has a similar service. It is a disgrace that this Government is removing these services when they are most needed—that is, when people are recuperating and coping with bad news. The removal of this service is a disgrace. I call on the Government to investigate what is happening at the North Coast Area Health Service and to ensure that the chaplain service is not removed.