Page 2025 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 May 1991
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MR KAINE: That was after negotiations with the unions. In fact, on every occasion that I have extended the trading hours since I have been Chief Minister, I have sought the agreement of the trade unions first. I am constantly saying to you - and I know that you do not like it - that I do consult with the trade unions constantly and I do have a very good working relationship with them. This is one of those examples where I do talk to them on issues that are of concern to them.
Trading hours in the ACT on those days will be similar to those applying in New South Wales. Given the widely differing attitudes to further relaxation of trading hours by various interest groups - and there are a number of interest groups in this - it was recently decided by the Government that it would commission a study on trading hours in the ACT. A report has been prepared by ACIL Australia. It is my intention that that be circulated for public comment prior to the Government making any permanent and long-term decision on the matter.
Hospital Redevelopment Project
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I direct a question to the Chief Minister, as Treasurer. Chief Minister, where will the extra $35m required for your Government's hospital redevelopment plan come from?
MR KAINE: I am glad you asked that question, Mr Wood, because it gives me an opportunity, once again, to knock this Labor Party myth on the head. It is not $35m extra at all. Mr Speaker, every time one of the members of the Opposition asks this question, they are playing this game of questioning my integrity. I have said time and time again, and I will say it again for the record since you obviously did not hear me the previous times that I have said it: The hospital reconstruction program, which was for a defined quantum of work which Mr Berry knows about because he was examining the same proposal when he was Minister, was costed in 1989 at $154m. In 1990 dollars that translates to $166m. That is the value of that project; and that will not be increased. I have made it clear that that base $154m in 1989 dollars will not be added to. The project, as defined when the project began, will be completed within that amount of money.
The $35m has nothing to do with that project at all. It is for additional projects like a hospice and a birthing centre, which the Government has introduced this year as new policy initiatives; they are totally unconnected with the hospital redevelopment project. So, let us get off this hobbyhorse that somehow the hospital reconstruction project has blown out; it has not. The Government is undertaking other projects. Are you suggesting that we should freeze all other work associated with the hospitals until the project is completed, lest it be misconstrued as an extension of the project?
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