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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 332 ..
MR MOORE (continuing):
other workers around them-the psychologists, the nurses, the social workers; the range of allied health professionals-and can work with them as a team.
I am not talking about the sort of team where a doctor says, "I am the team leader. I say what goes and that is all there is to it." Rather, the team should understand that people with different skills can work together to get the best possible outcomes. First and foremost, we are interested in getting the best health outcomes for the patients. That is what we are interested in and that is why we are using this process.
MRS BURKE: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. What are the benefits to the ACT community and the ACT health system of having such a medical school?
MR MOORE: There is no doubt that having a medical school would provide a great deal of benefit at a range of levels. The first level is in terms of the status of a university. There is no doubt that a medical school adds to the status of a university and the people within the university. There is no doubt that it adds to research. There is no doubt that having a medical school helps to get better health outcomes, as we have seen with the clinical school operating out of the Canberra Hospital. Each of the people working in it, the professors and other staff, is interested in ensuring that the school gets better outcomes by measuring the health outcomes and applying them to their work.
There is a range of issues, but I think that the most important thing still is that a medical school must add to patient care. We must see a significant increase in patient care through having a medical school. There is also the broad issues of community with having a medical school here. It adds to the range of research that goes on in the ACT, remembering that the sort of academic work that goes on here is part of being a clever community that this government is very keen to facilitate and work on. There is no doubt that those less tangible things are there as well and we recognise them as important. But the most important thing is that before we put a significant amount of money into a medical school we would have to be able to see that there was a significant increase in patient care.
Gugan Gulwan Aboriginal Youth Centre
MR WOOD: My question is also to Mr Moore. Minister, in one of the flood of leaks that have characterised the way that the government has brought out the draft budget process, the Canberra Times of 14 February reported that the government would fund the relocation of Gugan Gulwan, an Aboriginal youth centre that has been housed in temporary premises in Red Hill-an old preschool-for five years. In view of the pressing need for more suitable premises and a better situation, can you tell us how soon the relocation will occur and whether any potential sites for a permanent home have yet been identified?
MR MOORE
: I can say that we are working on a number of sites. We have a favoured site, but that favoured site requires negotiation with other community groups which are currently using it. I will be happy to give Mr Wood a briefing on it but, because of the fact that we are trying to talk to a range of community groups, I would not want to undermine those negotiations. If Mr Wood or any other member is interested in knowing about that on a confidential basis, which would be for a couple of weeks at the most but
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