Page 1625 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 May 1990
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is about $154m, and that is one of the cheaper costs when one considers all the options.
I have spoken also to a number of doctors, and indeed the general consensus of opinion was that in reality it was better to have Woden as our principal hospital. When one took into account all the factors - including the costs, the state of the buildings, the facilities, and the location of those hospitals - when it all panned out, Woden was preferable as the principal hospital.
So I commend the public hospital redevelopment program outlined by Mr Humphries. It was a hard decision, as was the recent debate we engaged in in relation to closure of schools, but again we must progress. Times do change, things do not stay static. It is up to this Assembly to take these decisions which may seem hard at the time but which are ultimately in the best interests of the Canberra people, as will be evident in the years to come.
MR COLLAERY (Minister for Housing and Community Services) (4.00): Mr Speaker, this is an important and vital topic in the political history of the ACT as well as in the medical history of the ACT. Much has been said on the importance of the Government decisions taken, and I endorse the comments made. (Quorum formed)
In the short time now left to me in this debate I wish to put a number of matters on the record. The redevelopment of the public hospital system will see the preservation of the Acton Peninsula and the implementation of a holistic and community based health system which will be to the advantage of the overwhelming majority of ACT residents. I am happy to concede that, if one draws circles and examines distances to and from hospitals, there is a pocket of ACT residents who are geographically closer to the Royal Canberra Hospital site. Those few thousands of people, very important people, are of course part of the wider ACT community. It is of considerable regret - Mr Speaker, I am finding it difficult to speak. I have got five minutes left of the normal speaking order and I have hardly been able to address the issue.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Please caucus in a softer voice, Mr Moore. Please proceed, Mr Collaery.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Moore is caucusing with his Labor colleagues and I am trying to concentrate on a speech.
Mr Moore: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. It was very close to a personal attack.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Moore believes it is an insult to be caucusing with Labor. That is very interesting.
Mr Moore: It is the word "caucusing", Mr Speaker. It has certain ramifications about it. Though Labor people find it acceptable, it is not a word that I use.
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