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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Tuesday, 9 March 2004) . . Page.. 919 ..

by providing safe, secure, peaceful and affordable housing—a situation currently not enjoyed by all our seniors. And I am sorry if Mr Corbell thinks it is repetitious. It is about time he started listening.

We had 255 beds funded by the Commonwealth; what has been done with those? We have heard this government talk about some of the good things that possibly they have done. But they are frilly little bits around the edges. Much of it is not impacting the major problem that we have. Ward 5W has been alluded to. As I have experienced, there is a blockage; there are people there who should not be there. It is not dignified. How many plans and reviews do we need? And then silence was golden from the government in connection with the development of the O’Connell education centre in Griffith.

Mr Cornwell: Tell us about that.

MRS BURKE: Well, yes, I would love to if I knew more about it. What is going on? There is also the joint emergency services centre in Curtin. Perhaps the minister would like to tell us about that. I could go on and on. Much has been said. This government are sitting on their hands. They are lazy when it comes to doing any of the real hard yards on real issues in our community and they abrogate their responsibility. I applaud my colleague Mr Cornwell for placing this matter of public importance before the Assembly and we need to further investigate the current state of aged care in the ACT as a matter or urgency.

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (4.35): There are two minutes left and what I have to say is simple: Labor cannot manage. They cannot manage the Health portfolio, they cannot manage the Planning portfolio and they certainly cannot manage the aged care portfolio. The effect of this is inappropriate care for the aged who are either caught in their homes, dwelling with relatives or stuck inappropriately in hospital wards. It is ineffective spending—spending that should be bringing down Labor’s burgeoning waiting lists. It causes a loss of faith in the system. Nobody believes that the Labor Party can address this issue. There is a flow-on effect into the hospitals, which is causing bed block and enormous problems for our accident and emergency systems.

It just comes back to the basic fact: Labor cannot manage. They cannot manage the Health portfolio, they are not managing the Planning portfolio and they are making absolutely no attempt at good management of the aged care portfolio. If they were, we would have seen some action on the 255 beds that have, in some cases, been with us for almost 2½, if not three, years. What we are seeing is obfuscation. The minister says that people have got the land. But they have not got a lease and, until you have a lease in this city, you do not have the land. If the minister were true to his word, people would have leases. But they do not have those leases and he should come back and apologise to the Assembly for the implication he made that people had leases. They do not, and it just comes back to the fact that Labor cannot manage the Health portfolio, the aged care portfolio or the Planning portfolio. What we need is some concrete action—not more Wally words or surveys or studies or plans or committees. What we need is leadership and what we need is commitment. What we need is better management and that management—and only that management—can ensure that things will occur in the Health, aged care and Planning portfolios.

MR SPEAKER: The time for this discussion has concluded.

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