Page 3774 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 8 November 1994
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My own images of Gus are: Bustling, busy, always with something to say, always ready to express his opinion, and always ready to get stuck in there and do the work. That is something that we can all admire. It is for those reasons, Madam Speaker, that I take great pleasure in supporting this motion, at the same time feeling the sadness of missing the Gus Petersilka that we knew.
Question resolved in the affirmative, members standing in their places.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Acton Peninsula - Hospice
MRS CARNELL: My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. The Minister has now received a number of submissions from organisations who wish to run the hospice on Acton Peninsula on behalf of the ACT Government. On 15 September, the Minister told the Assembly that the available recurrent funding for the hospice was $1.48m per annum. Have any of the submissions received by the Minister indicated that they can operate a quality 17-bed hospice for $1.48m per year on Acton? Does the Minister still stand by his statement that the proposed hospice can be run for this amount of money?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I seem to recall the Leader of the Opposition saying that nobody would be interested in running the hospice at Acton. In fact, we have received three submissions from very reputable organisations, expressing interest in running a hospice at Acton. We have established an arm's length process, where those various bids are being looked at. I expect to take that arm's length process back to my Cabinet colleagues very shortly, and I expect an announcement to be made very shortly. As it is a process of assessing a series of arm's length bids, and going back to Cabinet, I can say to Mrs Carnell that she will be invited to the announcement, at the incomparably beautiful site on Acton Peninsula, when the successful tenderer is announced and when financial arrangements are, as they always are under this open Government, unlike the ramshackle Alliance, made fully public.
MRS CARNELL: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. The question was: Does the Minister stand by his statement that the proposed hospice on Acton Peninsula can be run for $1.48m per year?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, the Minister stands by the statement that there is a tender process going on. It is an arm's length one, and I will report to the public of Canberra when that process is concluded. As always, the full financial details will be made public.
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