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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Wednesday, 3 March 2004) . . Page.. 636 ..

One of the best things about the social plan is that it moves away from the approach of adhocery. With all three documents, it is about moving away from adhocery. It is about putting down the information. Yes, certainly some of it may be quite obvious, but it is important to state those things that are obvious and to start forming the framework. As I said before, this document is the start of a framework and I think it is a good thing. So I commend the motion. I thank the speakers for their comments and I urge the Assembly to vote for the motion.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

Aged persons accommodation

MRS DUNNE (12.04): I move:

That this Assembly calls on the minister for Health and the minister for Planning to table by the adjournment of 4 March 2004, a list of applications along with the type of accommodation and the number of Commonwealth bed licences, if any, to come before the government since January 2002 in each of the following categories:

(1) applications for land allocations for aged persons accommodation;

(2) development applications for aged persons accommodation;

(3) proposed developments for aged persons accommodation in pre application discussions or the high quality sustainable design process;

(4) proposed developments for aged persons accommodation which have been withdrawn since January 2002 and the reasons for their withdrawal; and

(5) proposed developments for aged persons accommodation which were rejected by the government since January 2002.

This motion calls on the Minister for Health and Minister for Planning to table by the adjournment tomorrow a list of applications and the types of accommodation and the number of Commonwealth licensed beds, if any, in relation to a number of categories of applications and the like. When this motion was first drafted, I had asked that the Minister for Planning and the minister for responsible for ageing should get together to do this, because it is the understanding of many in this place and across the territory that the Chief Minister has some role in ageing. The Chief Minister’s Department is currently putting out glossy brochures telling members of the community what is happening in ageing or what is not happening in ageing and I and members of the opposition would like some ownership of this issue by the Chief Minister as well. But it seems that, although the Chief Minister is putting out publications about what is happening in ageing, when it comes to the crunch he has no ministerial responsibility for it.

I suppose that goes to the heart of why the opposition are moving this motion today. This motion is about getting information which seems to be intangible, amorphous, constantly changing. It reminds me of a media commentator, who still haunts this place from time to time and who, back in the First Assembly, referred to his inability to get a straight answer from a then member as “like nailing jelly to a wall”. When it comes to the issue of aged care and the accountability of this government, I think the phrase “nailing jelly to a wall” seems most apposite.

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