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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4236 ..

Mr Smyth: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: my question is about his own action health plan. The question was whether or not he has done a costing. Has the Chief Minister and Health Minister done a costing for his own action plan?

MR SPEAKER: Come to the-

MR STANHOPE: $25 million just for this single item in Mr Smyth's budget. Mr Smyth, where is the $25 million coming from? Where do you plan to get it?

Mr Smyth: That is not the question. It's your action plan. It's your promise, it's your plan.

MR STANHOPE: Where did June 2004 come from? Let us go to Mr Smyth's other big-order issues. Let us go to the one in the press release issued today-this is one that I am more than happy to deal with. Mr Smyth explains how I missed the point on screening programs.

Mr Smyth: Again, on a point of order, Mr Speaker: the Chief Minister continues to defy the direction to answer the question. The question is about his costing: has he done a costing of his own action plan? It can't be too hard to answer that, unless he has not done it and he is embarrassed and he has been caught out.

MR STANHOPE: I am not a bit embarrassed.

Mr Smyth: Have you done it?

MR STANHOPE: Mr Smyth, you are going to be awfully embarrassed about this-the $200 million Brendan Smyth black hole. All of a sudden we have got a Leader of the Opposition who thinks it is fine to just say, "We'll spend $200 million in the next 18 months but we won't say where it is coming from and we won't say what we are cutting."

Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the Chief Minister and Health Minister is becoming tedious and repetitive. His standard ploy to avoid answering a question is to give background. This background has been going on for seven minutes now, and it went on for seven minutes yesterday when he was asked a difficult question. I think it is about time the minister actually answered this very simple, straightforward question, which was: "Have you costed your health action plan?"

MR SPEAKER: The Health Minister will come to the subject matter of the question, please.

MR STANHOPE: Mr Speaker, I am more than happy to go through seriatim, item by item-and I intend to do so this afternoon-the health action plan and Mr Smyth's six-page press release. Do you want me to go through Mr Smyth's six-page press release item by item?

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