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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Tuesday, 3 August 2004) . . Page.. 3356 ..

the Monash Village. To the best of my knowledge, across the road is all built up. If he means on the vacant block behind the existing Goodwin Village perhaps he would be more accurate. He said, “We will give them land to build an 80-bed residential aged care facility and 150 independent living units.”

He creates the impression—the Chief Minister is good at this; he is always out there doing this—that he is determined to stay ahead of the game and that he is acting quickly. What he did not tell people was that it had taken Goodwin Village two to 2½ years to secure that commitment—more than two years; 24 to 30 months—to get a commitment from the government that they could have that block.

This is the government that is determined to stay ahead of the game. It fills you with enthusiasm, does it not? The impression that the Chief Minister created in giving the interviews and in his speech—I do not think too many people were fooled—was that it was all okay because the government had fixed it.

We also have to look at how long the process will now take. The Chief Minister continues in his press release to say, “My government is fully supportive of this proposed development and will work hard to ensure that it goes ahead without any difficulties.” They have been working with Calvary for 33 months to make sure it goes ahead without difficulty. They worked with Goodwin Homes for almost 30 months to make sure something went ahead without difficulty.

But the difficulty in this territory with getting anything done in regard to aged care accommodation is the ACT government. For more than three years we have had an allocation of some 255 beds. In this year’s federal budget 505 beds have been allocated. It is not the Commonwealth dragging its feet on the allocation of aged care facilities; it is the ACT government—its lack of drive, its lack of ability to make a cabinet decision—and it is the terrible planning system that it has put in place that is slowing this down.

Let us not be fooled. I do not think anybody was fooled. There was a lot of head shaking at the Chief Minister’s rhetoric. I do not think the aged care community was fooled by what he was saying. Those who have been waiting certainly are not fooled by the dedication of this government to make things happen.

I am aware of a number of other aged care facilities. There is one at the golf course at Holt that could have well and truly gone ahead by now. But no, the government is against that. It is interesting. A resolution was passed at the last ALP conference—the one before last weekend—that called on the government to assist clubs wanting to restructure or change the way in which they operate: if they need a draft variation, such variation should be facilitated and facilitated quickly. Of course, the club at Holt has not got that and I suspect that the Murrumbidgee Golf Club in the electorate of Brindabella will not get that assistance. Why? Because this government is not committed to aged care.

Apparently the theme—from the Chief Minister’s perspective—at the Labor Party Conference was Canberra. I am lucky—I am absolutely honoured—to be holding in my hands a copy of the Chief Minister’s press release with his speech attached. I checked through the press release. It states that the government knows that it has to pass the test to be re-elected. On the front page the Chief Minister states, “I believe we will pass this

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