CONSIDERATION OF URGENT MOTIONS
Illawarra Region Insurance Claims
Mr McMANUS (Bulli) [3.34 p.m.]: My motion should receive priority because it will give members of this House an opportunity to publicly acknowledge their concerns about the heartbreak and trauma that Illawarra residents have suffered since 17 August. The motion should receive priority it will also give the House an opportunity to put pressure on the recalcitrant insurance companies that will not honour their obligations. My motion should be given priority because this is also an opportunity to publicly thank the many clubs, residents and service organisations throughout the Illawarra and the Sutherland shire for assisting residents of the Illawarra on the night they were stranded by floods. It is also an opportunity for the House to once again call on the Federal Government to set up a national disaster fund for cases such as this so that people can be protected.
Computer Millennium Bug Hospital Equipment Failure
Mr COLLINS (Willoughby - Leader of the Opposition) [3.35 p.m.]: My motion should receive priority because the Opposition has revealed this week in a series of questions the complete lack of preparedness on the part of the Carr Government to treat the year 2000 millennium bug problem in hospital equipment across the State. The figures that have been revealed indicate that the Government is spending less than a quarter of the amount identified by the Health Department as necessary to fix the problem. If the problem is not fixed - and fixing it means starting now - patient lives will be put at risk. The Government is laughing about this problem. The more the Premier and the Deputy Premier laugh about it, the more they proclaim their ignorance, the more they reveal that they have no plans and the more they confirm the experts’ worst fears.
The latest information acknowledges that the Government is the worst performer and the least prepared when it comes to information technology. The documentation released by the Opposition this week comprises official government documents released a month ago which show that the Government is in trouble with regard to the millennium bug problem. Worse still, patients in every public hospital across the State are being put at risk by a Government that laughs and shrugs off this serious problem. Other governments in this country and, indeed, around the world do not laugh off this problem. The body that needs to ensure that the millennium bug is dealt with is the Health Department. The Health Department could experience lives being put on the line, cardiac monitors suddenly flat-lining, ventilators switching themselves off, intravenous drips stopping and kidney dialysis machines stopping in the night.
The Carr Government laughs at that and shrugs it off, or tries to address it by waving around outdated documents. There is no point in waving around last year’s documents when the Opposition has last month’s documents, which show that the official Government position is that this serious problem is being underfunded and less than one quarter of the funding, that is, $30 million, has been used to fix the problem across the State when $125 million has been identified as needed.
Worse is to come. If the funding to fix the problem is not sufficient, if the Health Department does not have its millennium bug funding topped up, the money will have to come from funding normally used for the provision of services. The Minister for Information Technology, when answering a question two days ago, admitted that the money would come out of individual departmental budgets. That means that people will have to wait longer for operations. Their operations will be postponed and they will not be able to access desperately needed services and treatment.
There could be no more telling indictment of the Government’s mismanagement of a sensitive portfolio than its failure to prepare for a problem that the rest of the world is preparing for. The Carr Government merely shrugs off the problem and laughs at it. A well-prepared government could save lives; a poorly prepared government will cost lives. There is sufficient evidence from around the world to show that lives will be at risk - in some countries hundreds of lives will be at risk - if this equipment is not modified, reprogrammed and brought up to date.
I go on the record now, in this House, 14 months before the chickens come home to roost, as saying that the Carr Government must begin to prepare now. This is a desperate and urgent plea: the Government must make up for lost time. If it does not, the Minister for Health in this State will be guilty of nothing short of criminal negligence. It would be an outrage if the Government were to continue to shrug and laugh off this matter. Be it on the Government’s head! The official warning is contained in government documentation which states, "The millennium bug problem needs more funding, or it will not be overcome." This motion is far more urgent than the motion of the honourable member for Bulli.
Question - That the motion for urgent
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consideration of the honourable member for Bulli be proceeded with - put.
The House divided.
Ayes, 46
Ms Allan Ms Meagher
Mr Amery Mr Mills
Mr Anderson Mr Moss
Ms Andrews Mr Nagle
Mrs Beamer Mr Neilly
Mr Clough Ms Nori
Mr Crittenden Mr E. T. Page
Mr Debus Mr Price
Mr Face Dr Refshauge
Mr Gaudry Mr Rogan
Mr Gibson Mr Rumble
Mrs Grusovin Mr Scully
Mr Harrison Mr Shedden
Ms Harrison Mr Stewart
Mr Hunter Mr Sullivan
Mr Iemma Mr Tripodi
Mr Knight Mr Watkins
Mr Langton Mr Whelan
Mrs Lo Po’ Mr Woods
Mr Lynch Mr Yeadon
Mr McBride
Mr McManus Tellers,
Mr Markham Mr Beckroge
Mr Martin Mr Thompson
Noes, 43
Mr Armstrong Mr O’Doherty
Mr Beck Mr O’Farrell
Mr Blackmore Mr D. L. Page
Mr Brogden Mr Peacocke
Mr Chappell Mr Phillips
Mrs Chikarovski Mr Photios
Mr Collins Mr Richardson
Mr Debnam Mr Rixon
Mr Ellis Mr Rozzoli
Ms Ficarra Mr Schipp
Mr Glachan Ms Seaton
Mr Hartcher Mrs Skinner
Mr Hazzard Mr Slack-Smith
Mr Jeffery Mr Souris
Dr Kernohan Mrs Stone
Mr Kerr Mr Tink
Mr Kinross Mr J. H. Turner
Mr MacCarthy Mr R. W. Turner
Dr Macdonald Mr Windsor
Mr Merton Tellers,
Ms Moore Mr Fraser
Mr Oakeshott Mr Smith
Pairs
Mr Aquilina Mr Cruickshank
Mr Carr Mr Humpherson
Mr Knowles Mr Small
Question so resolved in the affirmative.