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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4436 ..

MR CORBELL: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, in yesterday's Chronicle - and perhaps by now you would have a copy from your extremely efficient and helpful staff; I am sure you will be able to find one; it is in every letterbox in Canberra - which went to every household in Canberra, there was a colour supplement about the Canberra Hospital. Chief Minister, how much did it cost to design, prepare, print and then place this supplement, which contains a photo of Mr Humphries, into every edition of the Chronicle?

MRS CARNELL: How much? Mr Humphries might like to answer about the photo, because I have to say that I still have not seen it. But I do know how much it cost. The head of the hospital, Mr Brian Johnston, came to see me to tell me that this was what he wanted to do, because he believed very strongly that the very good work that was being done by the hospital should be known about out there in the Canberra community. Mr Johnston said that this is the sort of approach that he had taken at other hospitals that he had worked at, and he believed - and I actually agree - that something as important as your hospital in a city, particularly your major teaching hospital, does need to have a degree of, I suppose, community ownership. He believed - and I have to say I agree with him - that the way to achieve that was to make sure that the people of Canberra knew what was actually happening at the Canberra Hospital; some of the really good things, some of the great things that are being done at the hospital.

I think it is a great pity that those opposite do not share this view. I certainly hope that, if one of those opposite is Health Minister next time, they are willing to support their hospital in improving their public profile.

Mr Corbell: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I asked the Chief Minister how much it cost to design, prepare and print. If she does not know she can tell us that and inform the house later, but I would ask you to instruct her to answer the question - on relevance.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I have been answering this question for all of, I think, 45 seconds now.

MR SPEAKER: Yes; the Chief Minister is answering the question. I think she is going to tell you how much it cost, anyway.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I was, I thought, telling the Assembly the basis, as it was put to me, of this supplement. I thought members opposite would be very interested in knowing the background of this colour insert. I understand the printing costs were just over $10,000. I understand there was a small amount of money on top of that for layout and so on, which might have meant it came to - again, I do not have a brief on this - something just over $12,000, from memory. That is money that Mr Johnston and his management team believed was important. The health budget in the ACT is some $300m. It is a significant part of our budget all-up - over 25 per cent.

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