Page 2953 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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little bit about Arawang Primary School, which was created when Waramanga Primary and Fisher Primary amalgamated. Those two communities got together and, rather than have any dissension in the new school, produced an excellent school that is regarded as one of the best primary schools in the Australian Capital Territory, offering a lot of options for its students. This was a successful amalgamation. Perhaps we should be a little more positive in this debate, rather than just being totally negative. Let us look at the extent of possibilities for some of these students which might present themselves as a result of Mr Humphries' amalgamations.
Let me briefly deal with hospitals. If we kept open Royal Canberra Hospital, that would cost us, from my understanding, approximately $150m extra; that is, 10 per cent of our annual expenditure or budget in the ACT which I understand is about $1.5 billion. That is simply unacceptable and we simply do not have the money for that. Woden Valley Hospital is a more modern hospital than Royal Canberra Hospital and, logically, it should be the principal hospital. I think a lot of emotion comes into this debate because a lot of people in the community tend to think that the service is better at Royal Canberra Hospital than it is at Woden Valley Hospital. That seems to be the main rationale. I think in an earlier debate I said it is people that make a system, be it a hospital or be it a school, not the building itself. Good nursing staff and doctors make a hospital, and certainly this Government will be doing all it can to ensure that the principal hospital, Woden Valley Hospital, has the best possible service and the best possible trained staff. I think that statement is also applicable to schools.
To conclude, Mr Humphries has seized the initiative and worked very hard. I would endorse the remarks made by Paul Whalan, the former Deputy Chief Minister and former Deputy Leader of the Opposition, when he made his farewell speech and praised Mr Humphries for his courage and for his efforts prior to Mr Whalan leaving this Assembly.
In fact, I think we should acknowledge what a good job Mr Humphries does and how he deserves the support and not the censure of this Assembly. Again, I would refer the Assembly to those words of the former deputy leader of the Labor Party in the ACT Assembly.
MR BERRY (12.01): I do not think Mr Whalan would thank Mr Stefaniak for his words because the community is rising in revolt about the actions of Mr Humphries. I particularly want to prick the conscience of Dr Kinloch, again in relation to this matter of health in Mr Humphries' portfolio. Either Mr Humphries is involved in some sort of dirty double dealing or he is incompetent. The front page of the Canberra Times this morning says it all. This Government took to the National Capital Planning Authority the Government's decision on the redevelopment of the hospital system when it first made its announcement. Both
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