Page 4837 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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MS GALLAGHER: There is a hospital, Mr Hanson, but it is on the balance sheet of a third party. So your position, with respect to a party that no longer wants to run the hospital, is to gift them $200 million, improve their asset and finance it through our operating result. That is what you are proposing to do.
Mr Seselja: No, it’s not.
MS GALLAGHER: That is what you are proposing to do.
Mr Seselja: Not true.
MS GALLAGHER: Oh, it’s not true? So Mr Seselja contradicts his shadow minister for health! How about you two guys work out what your position is, because that is the position that has been put forward in the media statements by Mr Hanson—and I think Mr Seselja was standing next to him when he said it.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, a supplementary question?
MR HANSON: Minister, have you considered the opportunity cost of spending $70 million on Calvary hospital?
MS GALLAGHER: Yes. It is included in the financial analysis and I believe we answered that question with Mr Hanson at the financial briefing.
Mr Hanson: I didn’t—
MS GALLAGHER: You did not listen or you did not—
Opposition members interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: You got it, and it still adds up.
Education—student needs
MS PORTER: My question is to the minister for education. Can the minister advise the Assembly of the steps the ACT government is taking to ensure that our education system continues to meet the needs of students into the future?
MR BARR: I thank Ms Porter for the question and for her ongoing interest in the education portfolio. Again I can observe that Ms Porter has asked more questions on education in this place than the entire opposition combined. Ms Porter, thank you.
The government are committed to ensuring that our education system remains the best in the country. We believe that in a good city everybody learns. My starting point for the education and training system is that it should cater to the needs of every student; it should not just follow the stovepipes of a system designed for the 1890s or indeed the 1970s.
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