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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 151 ..

Mr Smyth: I quoted it from your policy!

MR HARGREAVES: And we have done it! We did it while you slept. Rip Van Winkle over here sleeps, while the Labor Party gets on and does it.

Mr Smyth: Did you announce that you had broken your promise?

MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, I did not announce that we had broken our promise because we did not-we went out there. Where does Mr Smyth sit, in the consultation processes? He sits up the back of a Tuggeranong Community Council meeting and says zot-sod-all. While I am out there talking to the GP adviser, the Department of Health and the people in Lanyon Valley-and I am talking about heaps of them-what happens? He is talking to himself. He is looking up Labor Party policy and saying, "Oops, it must be printed, so they have not done it."Wake up, sunshine, because we have done it! We are not going to support your motion or your amendment here, because it is unnecessary, it is untrue and it is just plain stupid.

MRS CROSS (12.04): Mr Speaker, I truly pay you homage today. I know you have been in this place for 13 years and I have been here for just a year and a quarter. I now know what stops you from falling asleep and getting too bored. This is a combination of Happy Days, Dad's Army and a carry-on movie!

MR SPEAKER: Thank you for your sympathy!

MRS CROSS: I can only imagine the trials and tribulations.

I am a little puzzled. I want to support the second part of Mr Smyth's motion, which calls on the government to honour its election commitment to examine the need to have a service in Tuggeranong and Gungahlin. I do not understand why the government is not supporting it.

When you look up the ALP's policy on health, it says,:

Labor announced, in April, that we would establish at least two after-hours clinics, staffed by general practitioners...

It then says:

Labor will consider the outcomes and perceptions of these trials, and address any problems arising. Labor will look at whether there is need to extend this initiative to providing after-hours GP clinics also in the southern suburbs of Tuggeranong, and in Gungahlin.

That is part of what is on the ALP website. Further on, it says that Labor will therefore establish at least two after-hours clinics staffed by GPs.

These two things seem to go together-the Smyth amendment and the ALP health platform. What has changed since this was on the web? In fact, this was printed in November 2001, shortly after the election. Has something changed since then? If so, has it been updated on the ALP website? I agree with Mr Hargreaves on one thing. He is right-Lanyon Valley does need a doctor. There is a great need there for a doctor. People in that area have been crying out for medical care for quite some time.

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