Page 5549 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Alexander Maconochie Centre—delays
MR COE: My question is to the Attorney-General and relates to the unanimous finding in the committee report on the delays in the commencement of operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Attorney, the report shows that you consistently maintained that the reasons for delay were purely driven by the commissioning process, with specific reference to the security system. The unanimous finding of the committee was that, in fact, not all the delays in the commencement of operations at the AMC were due to the security system. Attorney, do you accept that not all the delays were caused by the security system?
MR CORBELL: No.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Coe, a supplementary?
MR COE: Attorney-General, can you advise the Assembly of other factors which have caused delays in the commencement of operations?
MR CORBELL: I have just indicated that the reason for the delay was the security system. That is and remains the government’s position. The committee simply got it wrong.
Hospitals—Calvary Public Hospital
MR SMYTH: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, on 1 December 2009 the Canberra Times reported in relation to the Calvary deal that the former health minister and Labor Party leader, Wayne Berry, said that he “feared a political backlash for Labor if it gave in to the Little Company of Mary’s terms”. The article reported your response as “Wayne’s never agreed with anything I’ve done”. You then articulate Mr Berry’s position in relation to the Canberra Hospital, which is: we should build another one and let Calvary die a slow death. Minister, if the Calvary deal does not proceed, is it still Labor Party policy to build another public hospital and let Calvary die a slow death?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Smyth for the question. It is not Labor Party policy to build a third hospital. I know that Mr Smyth would love to—and he probably does—spend hours every night reading the Labor Party’s tremendous platform. It provides guidance to members about the progressive initiatives and policies that the Labor Party seeks to implement in the ACT. Perhaps it is due to a lack of ideas in their own policy platform that they are scrounging through ours looking for their own ideas. We did note that slightly unfair, I thought—it may be fair—rating from the Canberra Times. What was it a D-minus or a D-plus for policy initiatives?
Mr Stanhope: It was a D something.
MS GALLAGHER: It was a D-minus for the opposition in relation to policy. I note the opposition have just opted out of the Calvary discussion completely by saying, “Well, we don’t want to see anything change at the hospital. We don’t want to see
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video