Page 1932 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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MR STEVENSON (4.02): I can understand the concerns of some people over what the Royal Canberra Hospital site on Acton Peninsula will be used for. Perhaps the statements from the National Capital Planning Authority that have been read out today may give some understanding as to why some people have concerns.
There are two viewpoints that I want to look at - certainly the shorter term and the longer term, although not that very long. On 20 December 1991 letters were sent to people who had made submissions to the Acton Peninsula development project, signed by Mr Ross Cook, who was the director of the project. I quote Mr Cook:
The Government has announced that a number of non-acute Public Health Facilities should be considered for location on the Acton Peninsula: a Hospice, Rehabilitation and Aged Care, Convalescent Unit, Nursing Home, Queen Elizabeth II (Hospital for Mothers and Babies) and Community Health Services. The Minister is also considering other services for Acton, such as elements of a Clinical School and a centre for general practice.
We certainly do not want to see NCPA proposals looked upon by anybody as an easy out for not retaining the Royal Canberra Hospital site for community health services.
Let me look at the medium-term view that Mr Kaine mentioned. The expected population in the ACT in the year 2001 is 355,000 people. The number aged 55 and over would be 52,300. The expected population by the year 2011 is 426,000 people, an increase of 133,000 on the population now. The number aged 55 and over would be 84,000, basically a doubling of what we have at the moment. There is absolutely no doubt that we will need another hospital or hospitals in the not too distant future, perhaps the medium term. There is little doubt from a practical point of view, let alone other reasons, that the Royal Canberra Hospital site on Acton Peninsula should be kept for community health services until such time as it would be practical to re-establish a hospital there.
Once again we have heard during this debate that the will of the people is important. Recently we conducted a survey poll of 500 people. The first question we asked was, "Should the Royal Canberra Hospital site on Acton Peninsula be retained for community health services?". The figures I will give are rounded. Of those surveyed, 78 per cent said yes, 9 per cent said no, 6 per cent said that they were not concerned, and 7 per cent said that they wanted more information before they could make a decision.
We then asked whether a hospice - we defined that as a final caring centre for the terminally ill - if established, should be at Acton Peninsula, Calvary Hospital or elsewhere. The results were - once again, these are rounded figures - that 56 per cent said that the hospice should be established at Acton, 16 per cent Calvary, 21 per cent elsewhere and 7 per cent did not answer the question on the sheets. The various statements under "elsewhere" included Dickson, Reid, Braidwood, Gungahlin, Civic and various residential areas. So it is clear that the overwhelming majority of people in Canberra want their Royal Canberra Hospital site retained for health services. I think we would well understand that, were they to be asked whether they would like Royal Canberra Hospital re-established or a hospital re-established on the Acton Peninsula, they would again say, "Yes".
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