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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 3229 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

They came to us about nine months ago and said, "We think we have found the place that we want to move to."For 15 years my brother and I had been saying, "Why don't you think about this, why don't you think about that?"They did not want to do it. But they found the right place and it was at a time of their choosing. They said, "What do you think about it?"and I said, "If you're happy, do it. Don't put it off because something might happen, you might get sick and that opportunity is gone and you will have to settle for something which is not quite right."They have made a fantastic transfer from their family home of 56 years to the right place-the right place at the right time, at the time of their choosing, and they have made the right decision. But there are many people who are not that fortunate.

Mr Speaker, the whole process in the ACT is being bogged down by bureaucracy, and I will refer to a couple of examples. We have had an ongoing media war with the Minister for Planning over the application of Calvary Hospital for aged-care facilities, including 65 high-intensity beds. There are other things around that. We have had this minister putting out press releases saying, "We have made an in-principle agreement to do this."This in-principle agreement had been in existence for nearly two years before Mr Corbell thought, because of the pressure he was under, he had to look like he was doing something. So he gave in-principle agreement to something that had already been agreed to in principle. But giving in-principle agreement to something does not progress the case of Calvary where ongoing Commonwealth funding for 65 high-care beds was approved almost two years ago. This only has a two-year life and after that the Commonwealth is quite at liberty to say, "Well, we'll give the funding somewhere else."

Two years have been wasted while Calvary has been trying to establish aged-care beds opposite the Calvary campus. There has been a whole lot of community consultation, which I think is very unfortunate. I know that the community's role in this is very important and the community needs to be taken with us, but I do not think we have managed to do this. I think discussions in the community about the level of density are inappropriate when you are looking at what the long-term benefit for the whole community might be. A few residents in Bruce might be upset that a more dense building will be located close to their houses. They will stand in the way of a much-needed resource and the whole of the Belconnen and possibly the whole of the ACT community will be gravely disadvantaged if we do not make progress.

There are other examples. Members, and especially Belconnen members, would be aware of the proposal by Madison Lifestyle Communities to take over the decommissioned holes 19 to 27 of the Belconnen golf course. They have come up with what seems to be a very innovative project with high-quality, adaptable, supportable housing. They have a whole range of housing options, including nursing home facilities, so that if people need to they can make the transmission from one style of housing to another.

We have to consider the dislocation that is created when one partner has to go to a nursing home. If the partner who does not need to go to a nursing home can live close by, that person's whole life and means of adjusting to their lifelong partner being in a nursing home are made that much easier.

Mr Speaker, the planning authorities and the planning minister have stymied this proposal for a whole lot of reasons, most of which are spurious. They say that the

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