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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2336 ..

Mr Humphries: To Wayne.

MR BERRY: If I was your pet, I would not mind, but I am not. Mr Speaker, if one wants to change the name of one's pet tomato plant to something else, that is easy. It does not cost a zack. But, when you have a look at the cost that goes with the change of name of our hospital, you have to consider it against the background of the quality of service that you are providing.

Mr Humphries: What is the cost of the change of name?

MR BERRY: How much do you reckon it would cost to change the big Woden Valley Hospital sign that has been bolted up on the side of the hospital - it is probably as big as the end wall - with electronics, the whole lot?

Mr Humphries: I do not know - $500, $600, something like that.

MR BERRY: Cut it out, Gary. I can see why you had health budget blow-outs.

Mr Whitecross: Give him the contract.

MR BERRY: That is right.

Mr Humphries: How much does it cost, Wayne?

MR BERRY: Thousands, mate. Then there is all the signage around the hospital system, all the signage around the streets, all of the paraphernalia that goes with the system, all the signage around - - -

Mr Humphries: You changed it once, Wayne.

MR BERRY: Yes. I am glad you raised that. Mr Humphries raised the question that I changed the hospital's name once. This goes back to the old theory that Mr Humphries had when he was Minister that he could remove the emotional baggage that people had attached to the old Canberra Hospital by calling the Woden Valley Hospital Royal Canberra Hospital too. At one stage we had two Royal Canberra Hospitals. He thought that somehow the people would be fooled if all of a sudden one just closed. He thought that at the end of the day, after he had engineered the closure of the Royal Canberra Hospital, he would be able to argue, "We still have Royal Canberra Hospital. What are you whingeing about?". At the time it was exposed as a smokescreen. It was a silly move. We fixed that and it resumed its - - -

Mr Humphries: What was the cost of that?

MR BERRY: It did not cost much, because it resumed its original name. We achieved one great thing. It was the first time that I could recall in the ACT that "Royal" had been dropped from anything. That in its own small way has formed part of a discussion about where we are headed with the relationship between this country and Britain.

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