Page 2900 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 August 1991
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I think this matter of public importance could fairly be described as being no better than a hollow sham. They are attempting to keep open a debate on a decision by this Government which has proved to have widespread community acceptance.
The Opposition, during the brief time it could hold itself together as a government - and it is a matter of record now - rightly generated public outrage at its closure of Royal Canberra Hospital. That was a disgraceful decision. It was made even worse by fast-tracking the project to ensure that the Royal Canberra Hospital could no longer be saved. Then the Alliance fell apart.
The Opposition was clearly not listening last Tuesday. As I said at the time, this Government has placed a hospice on the 1991-92 forward design program. This will enable construction to commence next year. The capital cost is estimated at $2.1m. The forward design work had not been done, as I understand it, in relation to the former Government's proposal, and I suspect that there was a little more to the so-called promise than met the eye. This is a firm action of the Follett Labor Government.
We are also being realistic about the recurrent costs of the project, which contrast quite starkly with the predictions of the former Government. Some $2.3m would have been the recurrent costs of the project announced by the former Government, and I have informed the house in that respect before. This is a researched estimate, compared to the underestimate of $1.7m previously put up by the Opposition.
The Hospice Society strongly supports the location of the hospice in a tranquil setting. Nowhere fills this requirement better than the Acton Peninsula. Not only does Acton offer the benefits of a peaceful and beautiful environment, but the hospice will form one of the important cornerstones of the broader Acton public health facility. The Government is proud of this decision.
I want to turn now to the alleged failure of our Government to pursue the relocation of the Jindalee Nursing Home. I announced on Tuesday that consideration will be given to the additional use of the Acton site for nursing home facilities once the site has become de-institutionalised.
Unlike the Opposition, this Government is not going to rush into decisions about developing a nursing home on the site. We need to be quite confident that the environment is conducive to older people. Those in residence on the site would need to have appropriate access to shops and other recreational facilities. In my view, this cannot be determined until the full use of the site, now and in the future, is clear.
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