Page 4472 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 1993
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MS SZUTY: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. The Minister mentioned in his answer that bus-stops on arterial roads are rare in the ACT. I am not sure whether he can cite other examples of where they occur, but will he do a review of those situations to make sure that those stops are now safe, given the new arrangements?
MR CONNOLLY: There are some on Drakeford Drive. This was to be a new design, with the splitter island arrangements, and the design on paper has now been abandoned. We certainly keep it under consideration. As a practice, we do not want to put bus-stops on arterial roads, but in circumstances like this it is appropriate.
Hospice
MR KAINE: I put a question to the Minister for Health, Mr Berry. Mr Berry, you have in your hip-pocket a $3m cheque drawn on Consolidated Revenue for the purpose of building a hospice. It is getting pretty well worn now. The site on Acton Peninsula is clearly not available. What other sites are being considered and which is the preferred site at the moment? When do you expect to present that $3m cheque and provide a hospice, for which it was given to you?
MR BERRY: I thank the member for the question. We had a commitment to a hospice on the Acton site, and it was a good site too. Members will recall the mucking around, if I can describe it as that, that we were given by the NCPA on that score. We were perfectly happy with the site. Our judgment to put it away from a hospital was a good one and was widely accepted by people who are interested in providing better hospice facilities and taking a more contemporary approach to the provision of hospice facilities. We were universally upset by that mucking around we got from the NCPA and the undermining of the Government's processes of dealing with these facilities. At this point we are still committed to health facilities on the Acton site and there are still options for us to pursue in that regard. When the Government has anything further to say about it, Mr Kaine will be among the first to know.
MR KAINE: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. The Minister obviously had a lot of trouble answering that one. I will ask an easier one. Minister, do you expect to spend the money this year or next year or perhaps in 1998, or when?
MR BERRY: You can bet your bottom dollar, Mr Kaine, that we are going to keep our promises.
Mr Kaine: I am not talking about my bottom dollar; I am talking about the $3m you have.
MR BERRY: No, no, no. I am telling you that you can bet your bottom dollar that we are going to keep our promises, and that is all you have to worry about.
Ms Follett: Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper.
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