Page 283 - Week 01 - Thursday, 24 February 1994
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MR MOORE (3.49): Madam Speaker, I would like to comment on the significance of this site to the people of Canberra. That significance has been expressed again and again in the incredible disappointment of the people of Canberra at the closure of the Royal Canberra Hospital - an act that was carried out ruthlessly by Mr Humphries and his colleagues in the Alliance Government. When Mr Berry and his colleagues had the opportunity to save that hospital, they refused to do so.
This matter of public importance talks about two separate things. On the one hand, there is the health budget crisis, and on that matter I think the Liberals have an argument to put. Clearly, there is going to be another situation where the health budget will go beyond what is set out in the Appropriation Act. Those problems do exist, and I believe that it was reasonable to raise them. I reckon that that is fair game; Mr Berry used it when he was in opposition and the Liberals are using it now they are in opposition. What concerns me more is the notion that the Liberals, instead of sticking with that political football, are using the hospice as a political football.
It seems to me that the decision is made. It is clearly the case that the hospice is going to proceed on the Acton Peninsula, and there are very good arguments as to why it should be there. Many arguments were carefully illustrated today by Wayne Berry as to why it ought to be a freestanding and separate hospice. Certainly in the visits I made to hospices - one in Victoria which was freestanding, and Calvary Hospital in South Australia, where it was associated with the hospital - I could find nothing to convince me that it was important to associate a hospice with a hospital. In fact, I can find very strong arguments for ensuring that a hospice should be separate from a hospital. It was quite clear that where a hospice was more closely associated with a hospital, and this is reflected in the quote Mr Berry presented to the house, there was an emphasis on the facilities there and on medical treatment. The purpose of a hospice is to provide for not medical treatment but rather medical maintenance, ensuring that people are looked after in the best possible way.
We must be very careful to realise that in Canberra we already have a very good palliative care system that is carried out in the best spot of all - at home. There has to be a backup system, and there is no debate about that. Everybody agrees that there has to be a backup system, there has to be a hospice, and that it is going to cost us because we cannot run something like that without it costing us some money. It seems to me that the best possible site for that hospice is well separated from the hospital and in a tranquil location, and who can do better than Acton Peninsula?
Putting it on the Acton Peninsula also shows that we are not saying to people who are dying, "We are discarding you; we are putting you off to the side; we are putting you out of hospital". We are saying, "We are setting aside one of the most important sites in Canberra because we value you, we value the contribution you have made, and we value this time at the twilight, if you like". That is what it is about, and that is why it ought not to be used as a political football. If you are going to look for a political football, for heaven's sake, go back to the health budget and go for it. That is the one.
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