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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2809 ..
Mr Stanhope: Who is going to wheel the dying people out into the car park, Michael? Are you going to get down there and help John Howard do it? Who is going to kick dying people out of the hospice?
MR MOORE: Mr Stanhope says, "Who is going to go down there with John Howard and wheel those dying people out?". There is a little bit of credibility between governments, Mr Stanhope. When governments make an agreement, they want it respected on the other side. If an agreement has been made, good faith would dictate that we abide by it.
Mr Stanhope: There is no hard and fast deadline. The Commonwealth has allowed a period of grace, as you very well know.
MR MOORE: Mr Stanhope, you are wrong. So many times you make mistakes. This is another one of them. Mr Stanhope, there is a hard and fast deadline. We have a year and then we have a six-month grace period. It will take us that long to build a hospice. I am doing my best to try to make sure it is built before that time. Even if we find a site near Lake Burley Griffin - and that is what I am trying to do - I will still try to make sure there is no transition through a ward in the Canberra Hospital.
What Mr Dyer is saying, what the hospice management is saying and, to get back to Mr Wood's question, what the LAPAC is saying is that that is a better solution than not considering Lake Burley Griffin at all. I accept that. Members, that is what you indicated to me that I should do. That is why I am responding in this way, even though I was very comfortable with the site on Lake Ginninderra. Mr Dyer says, amongst other things, that in taking this position it is recognised that it will be necessary to move on a temporary basis to an interim location within the ward block at the Canberra Hospital. He says that the implications of this have been considered but believes that in the interests of a long-term solution short-term inconvenience is surmountable.
Members, if you think that that is not appropriate, please tell me today so that I can eliminate the option of Lake Burley Griffin. You have to understand that in following the instruction of this Assembly it is likely that if we do find a site on Lake Burley Griffin the interim solution will be for the hospice to go into the Canberra Hospital. Much as I will try to avoid it, you must understand that that is the case. Mr Osborne indicates to me he is comfortable with that. Mr Rugendyke is not sure. What about you, Ms Tucker? Are you comfortable with that? Mr Kaine, are you happy with that interim solution.
Mr Stanhope: What is this nonsense?
MR MOORE: The reason I am doing it, Mr Stanhope, is that I have seen the way you operate.
Ms Tucker: Do we have a new standing order in this place?
MR MOORE
: They are rhetorical questions, Ms Tucker. The reason I am doing it, Mr Stanhope, is that I have seen the way you operate. I am damned if I do, damned if I don't. I am just trying to tie you down to make sure that you understand the
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