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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4360 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

very grateful for that. The people in the accident and emergency section were brilliant. I spent the obligatory couple of hours at the back, lying down while people ran around the place. I went up to the ward and I was treated very professionally. I was discharged later than I wanted to be, but that was for my own good.

The thing was that the medical staff there were particularly professional, the nursing staff were fantastic and the triage that I received when I transferred from the coast was brilliant. I have nothing but high praise for all of the people with whom I came into contact at the hospital, and I wanted the Assembly to know that.

However, the other part of the story is that, a week later, I was called to the hospital because my father had been taken there by one of the intermediate ambulances. He had turned a nice shade of lilac at his house. It turned out to be a heart condition. The ambulance took him in. He was taken to the accident and emergency section and plugged into all sorts of machines that go ping.

I went in there to make sure that he did not die. I told him that he was not allowed to die because I did not want to become an orphan, to which he replied, "I am not going to do that for you."He was then transferred to the coronary-care unit, plugged into more machines that went ping, and treated by the cardiologist and his own thoracic surgeon, to deal with his emphysema.

I have to say that, as the result of the prompt action of the ambulance service, and the professional service he received in the accident and emergency section and in coronary care, his condition has now improved to such a degree that his emphysema is improving a little bit. He is actually better now, having been through that emergency exercise at the hospital, than he was three weeks prior to that. It is all down to the professionalism and expertise of the staff, and the quality of care that those people delivered to my father. I am sure that, had it not been for that, I would have lost him. I am very grateful to the staff at Canberra Hospital, Mr Speaker, and wanted the record to show it.

Ministerial correspondence

Mr Mark Sinderberry

MR STEFANIAK (11.38): I mention this matter on behalf of Mr Jonathon Reynolds from Gungahlin. On 2 June, he wrote on behalf of the then Gungahlin Equality Party-I understand that it has changed its name-to the minister for housing requesting some information from the ACT housing department in relation to public housing in Gungahlin. It was a reasonably detailed request. There was a very quick initial response two days later from Mr Wood's office by Margaret Watt. She said:

Thank you for contacting the office of Bill Wood. He has read your email and referred it to the department for further advice and possible action. This office will be in contact with you again when that advice has been received.

So far so good. Unfortunately, nothing happened after that. On 27 November, Mr Reynolds again wrote to the minister and said:

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