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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (31 August) . . Page.. 2601 ..

MR STANHOPE: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Health and Community Care. Can the Minister say what action he has taken to date to implement the motion of the Assembly last Wednesday in relation to the ACT Hospice? What additional consultations have there been with the hospice, the hospice society and the Commonwealth? Which new central sites have been identified as a result of that consultation? What assessment process has he put in place for these potential sites?

MR MOORE: I thank Mr Stanhope for the question. I have asked my staff to get together a meeting with Ms Annabelle Pegrum to talk about these issues. I have met with members of the Griffith LAPAC. They have organised a meeting for this evening which I have agreed to attend as part of the consultation process. They asked me whether I would be available to do it. I suggested that they also invite members of the Hospice and Palliative Care Society to deal with it. They, in turn, suggested two more sites - one at Lennox Gardens, the other at Grevillea Park. They are both in areas of the lake covered by the Commonwealth. For those who do not know the areas, Lennox Gardens is opposite the Hyatt Hotel and Grevillea Park is down towards the Boat House restaurant. Those two areas have been suggested by those people as possible sites.

As I say, I have not yet met with Annabelle Pegrum. I am certainly intending to so and I have asked for that meeting. With regard to the Hospice and Palliative Care Society, at this stage I have not sought a further meeting with them because I do not have any further information to discuss with them. The last time I spoke to the Hospice and Palliative Care Society they recognised the problems with Yarralumla, their preferred site and the one to which, prior to the assessment being done, Mr Stanhope was thoroughly wedded. Of course, that is an inappropriate site because of the delay that would be associated with it and because of the uncertain outcome.

I explained that to the Hospice and Palliative Care Society. Of course, they were very disappointed. Indeed, I suspect that Mr Stanhope would be very disappointed about his favourite site - the one on which he came out before it had been properly assessed and made pre-emptive comments with no consultation whatsoever, other than taking the Hospice and Palliative Care Society's position. I spoke to Ms Heather Wain, the president of the society, who said to me that they would consider the Griffith site to be a fair compromise because it meets their prime issue, which is centrality.

I have to say, Mr Speaker, that I hear quite a lot of bunkum on this issue of centrality. It seems to me that within the ACT almost any area is central to another and the criticism particularly of the Lake Ginninderra site as not being centrally located is, as I say, bunkum. If you look at a map of - - -

Mr Osborne: Nobody goes to Belconnen.

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