Page 4426 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
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time Mr Berry and Mr Humphries lock horns on afternoon radio on this issue, we get concessions from the Government that more dollars are being consumed by this project. I am happy to back Mr Berry's assessment on this issue any day; but, even taking the Government's $154m figure, you would think that we would be saying, "Hang on, let us have a careful look at this. Let us have a careful look at whether this is a justifiable expenditure, at whether the massive disruption to the community that closing Royal Canberra Hospital will cause and is causing is worth the effort". But no, on the contrary, rather than adopting a cautious approach, there is this manic determination to fast track, to drag people in their beds out of the Royal Canberra Hospital and shove them into demountable buildings somewhere in the car park down at Woden Valley Hospital. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to this process. We keep hearing horror stories of how people will be in this inappropriate accommodation.
We in the Opposition and the community are just not satisfied that the process is being adequately planned and thought through. We maintain our argument that there is a political imperative here for the Minister for Health, an ideological imperative, and the people who are losing out, the people whose interests are not being protected, are the ordinary Canberra citizens who confidently expected, when they saw the numbers after the first election to self-government, that because there were a majority of members elected on a pledge to keep the Royal Canberra Hospital open it would remain open.
Unfortunately, one party in this Assembly does not stick to its election pledges and is prepared to ignore the wishes of its party members at the time, their promises to the electorate and the resolutions of their executive committee just this week, and go ahead with this pointless and foolish decision to close Royal Canberra Hospital.
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (4.02): Mr Speaker, I think it should be pointed out from the beginning that I think this whole matter of public importance is a bit of a furphy. As a matter of fact, I am looking forward to the day when the Opposition does raise matters of public importance to the people of the ACT. Off the top of my head I can think of one matter which would be a good matter of public importance, namely, the failure of the opposition parties to provide an alternative government to this one.
The Alliance Government is intent on providing the highest quality health care system for the people of Canberra. There is no doubt that the community must have access to a comprehensive range of high standard health services to meet all of its reasonable expectations and needs. Mr Speaker, I am sure you are intent on listening to this. There is no question also that a strong and accessible public hospital service is an essential part of this system.
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