Page 2345 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 August 2006
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There will be exemptions for patients and visitors who are holders of a health care card and are required to attend multiple times per week, as determined by the clinical area, or renal dialysis patients, hospital volunteers who are registered through the appropriate hospital mechanism and rostered to provide a service determined by the hospital or its delegate and for which the person receives no monetary benefit. Blood donors and Red Cross volunteers will be exempt from parking fees on the Canberra Hospital site. So if Mr Pratt can just pocket that away: blood donors and volunteers at Red Cross are already exempt. Some amendments were made a couple of weeks prior to the introduction of this.
Mrs Dunne: After you made a fuss.
MS GALLAGHER: No. Mr Pratt made a statement in the house on Tuesday that he was concerned that volunteers at the Blood Bank and the Red Cross were not exempt. They are exempt. Medical nursing and other health students will be required to pay for parking. I met with a number of students to talk through the exemptions regime with them. They were originally going to pay the full cost. Of course, you can pay $4 if you want to prepay for those tickets. I met with students. I talked with them about their concerns. I looked at what happens around the country. It varies. There are hospitals that do not allow students to park on their sites at all. There are hospitals where there is no parking at all on the hospital grounds.
Mr Smyth: So what? Dare to be different.
MS GALLAGHER: You have given me leave to talk about paid parking.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Smyth: I am just questioning what you are saying.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MS GALLAGHER: Well, “So what? So what?” is not really showing me the courtesy that you should give me after requesting that I make a statement to the house about paid parking.
After listening to the students’ concerns we negotiated an outcome that they get a 50 per cent reduction in the daily rate, so they pay $2.50 per day, which is less than a return bus ticket. I think it is a quite reasonable way of addressing the concerns that the students had. As I said, there are various arrangements for students at teaching hospitals across Australia. Fees vary from around $2.50 a day to $11 per day. Some students are paying $11 per day. Students are already paying for parking when they are doing placements at the Tuggeranong Health Centre and the Belconnen Health Centre.
Mr Corbell: And at ANU.
MS GALLAGHER: And at ANU. So students in the health care system are already paying for parking. This is not a new model. We are also building, as you know, a new car park across the road, which will provide around an additional 500 car spots to deal
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