Page 5203 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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I would question whether representatives from the Palliative Care Society, the Health Care Consumers Association and the ANF who spoke to the Greens are aware that back in June the Greens voted against any consultation being conducted.
Ms Gallagher: Don’t you twist the truth.
MR HANSON: They did. My motion asked for the consultation to occur on Calvary and Clare Holland House. What the Greens put in as their amendment was simply that a survey be conducted for users of Calvary; it had nothing to do with Clare Holland House. They clearly did not understand that Clare Holland House was part of the deal.
Ms Gallagher: The proposal wasn’t even out. There was nothing there.
MR HANSON: I will just reiterate, because the minister obviously did not hear me the first time: Ms Bresnan said in regard to the government’s deal that she thought it was just about a hospital and a religious organisation and nobody else. So, she missed the fact that Clare Holland House was there. The Liberals have made their position very clear—that is, we will not—
Ms Gallagher: Yes, their hypocritical position that nobody really understands.
Mr Stanhope: Their dishonourable position, their position of no integrity. That position. We all know about that position.
MR HANSON: Well, clearly, we have a position, and we know what it is.
Ms Gallagher: It’s the wrong one but it’s a position.
MR HANSON: We will not be supporting this deal, because it is a bad deal. If the government benches wish to continue interjecting, I will again outline to them why that is. So the people that will have to make a decision on this will be the Greens. I have to say that it scares me that a party that failed to look at the detail of this proposal and that have been so politically opportunistic and inconsistent in their response are ultimately those who will have to make the decision in this chamber.
I think we all understand what that decision will be. I think we all understand that this is a deal that they will support and that the exercise of today’s motion is an exercise of futility. It is about political spin. Underlying Ms Hunter’s morally superior tone is the fact that she knows full well that she will be supporting this grubby deal while she is trying to moralise and lecture members of the Assembly.
My amendment seeks to stop this deal. It gives the Greens the opportunity to do so. So the Greens are going to put their money where their mouths are. If it is only rhetoric they have got, then maybe they will ignore my amendment. But if they actually want to stand up for the Palliative Care Society, for the Australian Nursing Federation, for the Health Care Consumers Association, for all of those people who are so concerned about the sale of Clare Holland House, I am giving the Greens the opportunity today to put their money where their mouths are. Will they take that
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