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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Wednesday, 3 March 2004) . . Page.. 662 ..

JESC site will be combined with the redevelopment of existing sites and vacant portions of existing community facility leases—you are sitting down, aren’t you?—such as next to Catholic churches. I am not making a mistake in saying this because these words were taken down verbatim. So next to Catholic churches but not, it appears, St Vincent’s in Aranda. Presumably, exceptions will be made.

The case manager went on to say that system reforms are needed to streamline approval processes without compromising good planning. I think we would all agree with that, but why hasn’t it taken place? Why do we have this enormous backlog? We are dealing with thousands of people, because a lot of the aged care places have already closed their waiting lists. They cannot take any more or they do not wish to take any more because, obviously, they do not wish to mislead people and they do not wish to give them false hopes. Under this government, it would be very easy to give them false hopes.

A simplified formula, so the case manager, said is required for valuing aged accommodation sites, and there is a need to simplify requirements for design work prior to conditional approval. Nobody is arguing with that, although I do have some concern about a report to me that in looking at a facility for Alzheimer’s disease units the planning people—I am talking about Alzheimer’s disease units—were insisting on French windows. Those are people that are apt to walk and wander. Why are French windows needed? I have no reason to imagine it is impossible. Anything is possible with this planning minister in charge.

Mr Corbell: Back that up with facts, not obscure assertions.

MR CORNWELL: Promises, promises, promises, Mr Corbell. You have not delivered on a thing. We want to see some evidence—

Mr Corbell: Back it up with some facts.

MR CORNWELL: I have it on very good authority. I am certainly not going to tell you about it; you will just knock out their applications, too. I am not prepared to allow that to happen. The fact is, I repeat, that we welcome the government’s agreement to provide this information. Mrs Dunne and I will be waiting for it with enormous interest.

MS DUNDAS (3.37): I hope to be brief in speaking to this motion. It is a quite sensible and simple motion asking the government to put before us information in relation to applications for aged care units and how land allocations are going, development applications are being progressed, which proposed developments are in the application process, which proposed developments have been withdrawn and which proposed developments have been rejected.

Having this information will allow us to engage in a proper debate on the extent of need and the extent of movement in relation to aged care places in the ACT. It seems, however, that this debate has turned into almost an MPI on the state of aged care in the ACT. I for one would like to have this information before me before we wander off into that broader debate about what is happening with planning in relation to aged care, because we just do not know.

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