Page 1763 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 15 June 1993
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MR BERRY: Well, it is about being fairly relaxed about these issues instead of getting involved in inconsequential fights about an issue which is really of no import when it comes down to discussion about whether we need a hospice or not. The fact of the matter is that we need a hospice. We promised that it would be on the Acton site. We said over and over again to the people of the ACT that we would put it on the Acton site. The NCPA of course have a significant role in what happens on the Acton site, and one assumes, they having chosen that site and put it on offer, that it would be an acceptable site to them. It certainly is to this Government, and I am absolutely sure that when that hospice is built it will be considered a gem by the ACT community. Unquestionably, the overwhelming majority of the people of the ACT recognise that we have to have this hospice. They recognise the Labor Government for having promised it and we are well down the track to delivering it. I go back to my original point. There are some out there who will never be pleased about our position if we do not adopt exactly their particular position.
In relation to the existing buildings, that matter was considered, I suppose, but not with any weight from the outset because my view was that the best way to deal with a hospice was to have a purpose built facility. That option would not have been available to us in those existing buildings, however stout they might seem to be. It was my view that we needed a purpose built facility because it is the first hospice and it is going to be a lasting facility for the Territory. It was important that we make sure that it is of a type that is built for the people who will use it, and their carers and friends and relatives. Having made that decision, it was an issue of a site. Either site would have been quite okay as far as I was concerned, but it was more acceptable for it to go where the fence has been put up. We are quite happy with that, and I am sure that the community will be, too.
MS SZUTY: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Has the fate of the existing buildings on Acton Peninsula therefore been determined at this stage?
MR BERRY: I am not the best person to answer that question, but it would be - - -
Mr Humphries: You are not the best person to answer any question.
MR BERRY: I am the best person to answer the question if it means stirring up the Liberals, because they always seem to get agitated as I - - -
Mr Humphries: That is about all you achieve with most of your answers.
MR BERRY: Indeed. That is a feather in the hat. The Acton buildings are looked after by Mr Connolly's people. There has been no decision about their future, but there have been decisions made about other health facilities which will be provided on the site as time passes.
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