Page 1469 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 1 May 1990
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within the agenda of this Government. If there is any consultation, it is kept behind closed doors and is so selective that nobody hears about it. That particular area relates to the Government's actions in relation to the Territory's hospital system.
Mr Speaker, after the plan which had been developed by Labor to keep Royal Canberra Hospital open had been accepted and the community reassured, this Government overturned the decision in its attack on our health system. This attack on the health system is about saving money, allegedly, but no doubt it is in response to a requirement by the conservative constituency which seeks to cut government services to ensure that at some time in the future some conservative government might give them some relief from taxes. That pays no regard to the people in this Territory who do not have sufficient income to maintain themselves, but of course that is not something with which the members opposite would be concerned.
Mr Speaker, at the same time, the announced plan is deficient in detail. The convalescent home talked about by Mr Humphries, the hospice, the relocation of the Jindalee Nursing Home and the 24-hour mental health crisis centre are all new projects. The community has a right to know where they will be, how many beds there will be, who will operate them - whether it is the private sector or the public sector - how much they will cost because they have not yet been costed, on Mr Humphries' admission, and how much the overall plan will cost. There is a significant lack of costing and a lack of honesty in the Government's approach to this hospital plan.
The Minister for Health, as I have said, has acknowledged in this house that the Government is working with the same figures as Labor had to develop its hospital plan. The work done by the steering committee did not include the plans for the convalescent home, for a hospice, for a birth centre, or for a 24-hour mental health crisis centre. Now, in spite of all these added proposals which must include added costs, the Government claims to have a cheaper proposal for the ACT health system.
We heard Mr Humphries on his misleading campaign a little while ago talking about $8m savings. He was suggesting that that was $8m savings in relation to the hospital closure. If they had been telling the truth, Mr Speaker, it was $3m over what would have been saved by Labor in its proposal, and none of us have forgotten the $5m tax which could have been reaped from the adult video industry either, Mr Kaine.
Mr Speaker, these people opposite have misled the people of the ACT with their plan. The same figures which were prepared under Labor are being used by this Government to justify their program and those same figures - or the nearest possible assessment of the program that is to be conducted by the Government - indicate that it will cost over $190m to implement the Government's plan.
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