Page 58 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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I must say that I have adopted the attitude in government that when a statutory office is pursuing a function I tend not to become involved in the pursuit of that function prior to the completion of the work that the statutory office or officer is pursuing. I would have a very active interest or role once, say, a draft is prepared, but I do not believe that a draft master plan has yet been concluded for Kingston. I am not aware that it has; the minister may know. The minister indicates that ACTPLA has not yet produced a draft. I will be very interested in looking at the draft when the first draft is available, and I am sure there will be an opportunity for broad community consultation on that.
I have had no discussions with ACTPLA about any aspect of its intentions in relation to the drafting of a draft master plan for Kingston.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Hunter, a supplementary question?
MS HUNTER: Minister, given the now inevitable removal of the grass, have you considered changing the name of Green Square to something more appropriate?
MR STANHOPE: I would be more than happy to take submissions from you on that, Ms Hunter. I can just imagine, I think, the depth and the wit that the Greens would bring to the subject. I look forward to your submissions.
Hospitals—Calvary Public Hospital
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, you have consistently stated that the government is not making the necessary investments in Calvary whilst it is owned by a third party. However, on ABC 666 radio yesterday morning, the Archbishop of Canberra advised listeners that it was possible to make the necessary investments in Calvary hospital. I will quote from that:
I’m dependent upon advice from some fairly high powered financial advisers, and the advice I have received consistently from them and which I have passed on to the Government is that they can in fact invest if they wish …
Minister, can you confirm that you have in fact received this advice referred to by the archbishop, what did the advice contain and who authored the advice?
MS GALLAGHER: I do sense—a little part of me thinks—that Mr Hanson might already know the answer to that question he has just asked me. I received quite a lot of advice from the archbishop, a lot of letters, over a number of months and, indeed, a number of meetings. At one of the meetings he raised a number of times the belief that it was an easy thing for us, the government, to just invest this money, that we were just making it all up and that we really did not need to own an asset; we just needed to grant—
Mr Seselja: He didn’t trust you.
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Seselja, this is obviously something you are very comfortable with. As a government, the archbishop put to me, “Really all you need to
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