Page 611 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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contract that exists for palliative care services, on my understanding and from some of the advice I have, is going to continue for the next 61 years.
MR HANSON: A supplementary, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, will you now rule out selling Clare Holland House to the Little Company of Mary?
MS GALLAGHER: No, I will not. That is really because LCM Health Care and the government are in continuing discussions about the best way forward, just like I will not rule out compulsory acquisition. I think it is crazy to rule things out just for the sake of political convenience.
I understand that, if Mr Hanson was health minister, he would never take a decision that upset anybody for fear that he might have to stand up at a meeting and stand for something. Hopefully, I think, the community will ensure he is never in a position where he has to make a tough decision. You cannot ask governments to rule this in and rule this out. It is not the way good public policy decisions are taken, to exclude something just because someone in the community does not want you to do something.
I am afraid that at times tough decisions have to be made. All options have to be on the table. Hard discussions have to be had. That is the reality of being in government—something that Mr Hanson will never be.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson?
MR HANSON: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, will you continue to consider options that you have already described as crazy?
MS GALLAGHER: I have said a number of times, and indeed in this place, that all options remain on the table in our discussions with Little Company of Mary Health Care. Ultimately it will be a decision for the cabinet about the best way to go forward. I will provide my own views within that forum, but this is a collective decision-making process at the end. Those processes have not been taken so I am not going to pre-empt them.
Water—Murrumbidgee to Googong pipeline
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water. Minister, will you table in the Assembly by the close of business today the initial plans for the route of the Murrumbidgee-to-Googong pipeline, any variations that have been considered to that initial plan and the current final proposed route? If not today, when would you table them?
MR CORBELL: I will take the question on notice.
MR SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, a supplementary?
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