Page 131 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 17 February 1993
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Mr Kaine: And nothing beyond three years.
MR HUMPHRIES: And nothing beyond three years, as my leader points out. Putting that to one side, the question also has to be asked whether these particular facilities are appropriate for the Acton Peninsula. I think it is perfectly plain to anybody who has examined these issues over a period, as I have done, that some of these uses simply are not appropriate. As Mr Berry indicated, it is not appropriate to wholly base an academic facility such as a chair of community medicine or a chair of rehabilitation and aged care on a site which is not a functioning hospital, or for that matter a functioning part of a university. That has great sentimental value - I think Mr Moore pines for the days when the hospital was open - but to base such a facility on a site like that, while it would be edifying and very pleasant for the academics who could sit there and look out the windows, would not perform any other practical role in advancing either community medicine studies or rehabilitation and aged care. What connection does that site have with those things?
I also disagree with the concept of putting a hospice on that site. I have said so on several occasions. When I was Minister, the advice that came to the Government was unequivocal. It was that a hospice ought not to be located away from a functioning hospital. That advice came from the then chair of palliative studies at, I think, the University of Sydney. I would not be held to that. It was certainly a person who held such a position, and the only such position in Australia at the time. I would say without any fear of being contradicted that that would be the same advice I would receive today. If the Government sought the advice, I am sure it would receive that advice as well.
I must say also - this is a personal point of view, not so much a party one - that I have reservations about the decision we announced about locating aged care facilities on that site.
Mr Berry: Different when you are in government?
MR HUMPHRIES: No, we took that decision on the basis that we felt that it was important to be able to use that site for health care facilities, and that remains the Liberal Party's position. When I announced that decision, I was immediately approached by members of the Council on the Ageing and other experts in the area of aged care. The view was put to me very forcefully that that was not the right decision, that there is some danger in putting aged care facilities on a site which is, firstly, at the present time at least, not accessible to public transport; and, secondly, not accessible to things such as shops and community facilities. Having buses going down there does not mean that they are necessarily accessible to regular facilities. Would there be buses going down there at night? Old people need to go out at night. They like to go to shows or the movies or to visit friends, and they are entitled to access to buses at normal hours of the day, not just during daylight hours. But, that to one side, there is the problem of access - - -
Mr Kaine: The Labor Party should come down there and look at access after 6 o'clock.
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