Page 1689 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019

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The idea of a public hydrotherapy pool is that people can go there at any time. Arthritis ACT has to maintain a careful roster and a contract with the ACT government because, unlike in large chunks of the country, even small towns on the coast, there is no public 34 to 36 degree hydrotherapy pool in Canberra. This is one of the reasons why it is so cruel that the government basically promised to make this a part of the Stromlo development and has backflipped. Now they are busily pedalling under the surface to make it look like it is not a backflip.

Having access to facilities that are essentially private, while it may be able to fulfil the needs of Arthritis ACT, is not the best outcome. It is nothing like as good as the outcome of having a publicly accessible, any time of the day, 34 to 36 degree pool so that people like Aurelio from Weston Creek can get up and go to the pool at 8 am instead of 5.30 am.

I am glad to see the amendment from the minister. I think the members of the community in the gallery are very glad to hear of the amendment from the minister agreeing not to close the Canberra Hospital pool until an appropriate level of access to other suitable locations readily accessible for those on Canberra’s south side is maintained, continued and available. That is welcomed, because people here who access this service know that it is not just about a short period of access to this pool. For many of the people who use hydrotherapy, it is something they will have to do five or six days a week for the rest of their lives. It is the wonder drug. It is the wonder worker that creates a much better lifestyle for them.

It is appalling that we have got to this point. We will be watching. We will be taking very careful stock of whether the government keeps its word and maintains access on the south side that is equal to the access that these people have had to this point.

MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.36): I will speak very briefly because previous speakers have gone through all the medical reasons why hydrotherapy is a very good thing. I am sure that all the members in the gallery would be applauding everything that has been said here. I will not bore you by repeating it.

I thought I should say a bit, as a south side member who has been approached by a lot of constituents to say the things which the previous speakers have all talked about, about how important hydrotherapy is to them and how concerned—I could say scared, possibly in some cases—they are of what appears to be the outcome ahead of us. I remember the discussion that we had in estimates, Minister Fitzharris, Mrs Dunne and I, about where hydrotherapy would be and what was going to happen at Stromlo pool.

I must admit that I was a bit sceptical at the time, maybe because a constituent wrote to me and they were very optimistic. Unfortunately my scepticism was correct. Two things are really important: firstly, we increase the total amount of hydrotherapy facilities in Canberra because clearly there is unmet need—enough people have told me that there is—and, secondly, we maintain good access for people on the south side.


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