Labor Government Shuts Down Parliament: Port Macquarie People Denied Answers

25 June 2009

The NSW Labor Government’s decision to shut down the Upper House of Parliament last night means that the people of Port Macquarie will be denied answers on the future of the Palliative Care Coordinator Position and the radiotherapy machine, Duty Member for Port Macquarie Melinda Pavey said today.

For the first time since the establishment of Australia’s first Parliament in 1824 the NSW Labor Government abandoned the Parliament without any warning or explanation, which means there will be no Parliament until September 2009.

“The incompetent NSW Labor Government has done a runner from Parliament in an attempt to avoid the next sitting day, which will deny the people of Port Macquarie answers to their questions about the state of their health care,” Mrs Pavey said.

“I had planned to question Labor’s Health Minister John Della-Bosca in order to confirm the Palliative Care Groups fear that he had already cut the Palliative Care Volunteer Co-ordinator position, and to ask him to apologise publicly for treating the group with contempt.

“Mr Della-Bosca stated in Parliament on June 4th that the Palliative Care Volunteers operates “mainly for morning or afternoon tea. However, at present about six to eight people only are actively volunteering” .

“I planned to call on Mr Della-Bosca to publicly apologise to the Palliative Care Group who are extremely upset given that the service does not operate from time to time but rather operates on a regular basis as they spend a majority of their time doing home visits to dying patients.

“I planned to ask Mr Della-Bosca to correct the record and recognise that the group is made up of Trained Bereavement Volunteers who support bereaved families for up to one after the death, and that there are 33 active volunteers at present not as Mr Della-Bosca claims 6-8.

“However Mr Della-Bosca and his weak Labor Government decided to run away from Parliament and avoid being questioned which will also mean that the Port Macquarie community is denied information regarding local cancer care.

“The NSW Labor Government has clearly got its priorities wrong given that the 2009-2010 NSW Budget revealed that they have failed to fund a second radiotherapy machine at Port Macquarie Hospital.

“The NSW Labor’s Government’s complete loss of control of the Parliament has meant that they can now run and hide from questions such as the need for a Linear Accelerator at Port Macqaurie Hospital.

“This is a despicable act by the failing NSW Labor Government, and demonstrates how seriously they have lost control,” Mrs Pavey said.