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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2342 ..

Mr Berry: Yes, but you had only one each and you blew out both of them.

MR HUMPHRIES: On the contrary. Let us be clear. The Alliance Government in 1990 brought down what was one of only two balanced health budgets in this Territory's history. That is the fact. The attack on the change of the name of the hospital is also a quite extraordinary affront to our logic. Mr Berry attacked the cost of doing so, but then defended his own decision to change the name of the hospital in 1991. He cannot have it both ways. Either the cost of changing the name of the hospital is a prohibitive barrier or it is not. If it is a prohibitive barrier, then you should not have changed the hospital's name back in 1991.

Mr Berry: I did not want it to be called Royal Canberra.

MR HUMPHRIES: If your personal predilection was not to call it by a particular name, and you expected the Territory taxpayer to wear the cost of changing the name - - -

Mr Berry: I think the Territory taxpayer wanted that dropped, too.

MR HUMPHRIES: We wore that cost. In the circumstances, you have to expect that it is reasonable for this Government to suggest a change of name, particularly one that achieves a fairly important and valuable purpose beyond the mere prejudice that you have against the word "Royal". We have a very important goal in mind in achieving this change of name. Canberra has a hospital system centred on the Woden Valley Hospital. That is the central hospital, the principal hospital, for the Territory and for the surrounding region. Yet the name does not reflect that role. Some people who do not know the system could well imagine that Woden Valley Hospital was a small rural hospital somewhere in the south-east of New South Wales. The important point to bear in mind - Mr Berry perhaps has not realised this - is that we did not initiate the proposal to change the hospital's name; the people at the hospital did. They said that they wanted a name for the hospital at which they worked which was recognisable outside the ACT and recognisable as the hospital, which was clearly the principal hospital for the ACT. That is a good reason to change the name - to reflect the role of that hospital. It is not just the hospital serving Woden Valley. It should not be called the Woden Valley Hospital. It is the principal hospital for the whole of Canberra, and it should have a name that reflects that principal role.

Mr Berry: You just want to obliterate the closure of the old hospital, Gary. Cut it out.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Berry really has an elephant-like memory for these things. I do not hold grudges about who closed the hospital and who called the hospital what name. I am concerned to reflect the concerns of the people who work in the hospital system. The people in the hospital system, to whom Mr Berry clearly does not listen, have said, "We would rather a name that recognises the role of the work we do in the principal hospital for the Territory". I think we should support that. I think that this change is important, and I think that the change of name is important. I hope members of the Assembly will realise that we cannot solve the problems of the system without being able to change some of the structures. As a government we have made a number of changes already. We have changed some of the personnel involved in Health.

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