Page 3056 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 10 September 1991
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Mr Speaker, this Bill represents more than just the question of whether the Royal Canberra Hospital survives or not. In a very real sense, it encapsulates everything that is wrong with this Assembly and the dishonest approach that has been taken by the members of the Government.
At that stage she was accusing them of their dishonest approach. Mr Deputy Speaker, it is appalling that she can have stated these words, which appear on page 2137, on 6 June, and then have been a party to this decision. It goes on:
This Bill also gives a chance to show the people of Canberra whether they stand -
she is talking about the Residents Rally -
by the promises they made at the election and whether their pious statements made in this Assembly last year on this same subject meant anything at all. In short, the Residents Rally members have a chance to show that they are not hypocrites and that they have not been deceived by the panic and the terror tactics which the Liberals have used on the ACT budget.
Mr Deputy Speaker, take out "Residents Rally", insert "Labor", and see how strongly those words are going to come back to haunt Rosemary Follett. She went on to say:
This Bill is yet another demonstration of the fact that the Labor Party sticks by the promises it made to the Canberra community at the election last year.
What a laugh! Her very own words come back again to haunt her and they will do so at the next election. She said:
We stuck to our promises about retaining the neighbourhood school system ...
Congratulations. I accept that. I agree with it. It was a very positive move. But today we are talking about the Royal Canberra Hospital. She continued:
and holding down rates when we brought down our budget last year. We announced a plan for the refurbishment and continuation of the Royal Canberra Hospital. All of this was affordable and it was included in a budget strategy -
And so on. Further on she said:
There are many reasons why the Royal Canberra Hospital should be retained, just as there are many reasons why the hospital can be afforded by our community.
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