Page 3428 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 25 November 1992
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grounds of Calvary Hospital or, as Mr Kaine said, at the very worst Woden Valley Hospital. It had been discussed over a long period before Minister Berry suddenly blundered into this debate and got it wrong again. It should be run by the Little Company of Mary, who have an excellent track record in precisely this kind of palliative care.
One might also note that the ACT Hospice Society would prefer to see the hospice at Calvary. This is easily demonstrated from correspondence I have received, and I am sure many others have too. In a letter dated 3 March this year, directed to the Chief Minister, the Hospice Society said:
We submit that the provision of a hospice by grant aid to Calvary would be preferable to the provision through a fully Government owned/managed facility.
I wonder why they said that. The letter went on to say:
We would not wish our disagreement over the location of a hospice facility to prevent or delay construction. That being said, we believe that the best solution is a purpose built hospice in the Calvary Hospital complex.
Those are the people who know about where a hospice should be. That is not just what somebody on the street might think; it is the people who know, the people who understand this issue. Evidently, the Hospice Society is now resigned to seeing its facility built on Acton. In other words, it is better there than nowhere. I think it is really unfortunate that in these debates we get to the stage where the views of the people who know about facilities - the Council on the Ageing, Richard Glenn and Associates, the Hospice Society - are totally overrun.
MR LAMONT (12.08): I am reminded of the old saying about how many folk singers it takes to change a light bulb. The answer is 23. It takes one to change it and 22 to sing about how good the old one was. That is a bit like Mr Moore's speech this morning. He was saying, "Let us change the world, only so long as I can make a few points, some cheap shots, about the Royal Canberra Hospital".
Madam Speaker, before entering this house my position on the Royal Canberra Hospital was greatly influenced by one of the activists to save the hospital, Regina Slazenger. My family has known Regina for a very long period of time and has been involved with her in the public health system here in Canberra.
Mr Moore: Did she deliver you at Braidwood?
MR LAMONT: No. The way I addressed the issue was greatly influenced by the way Regina pursued her defence of the public health system. On this date in 1992 I think it is generally accepted that Royal Canberra Hospital will not again become a functioning public hospital. That is something which around this chamber and generally in the community is an accepted fact. People may not like it and they may not accept that it needed to be closed when it was, but on this day in 1992 it is an accepted fact.
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