Page 1537 - Week 04 - Thursday, 25 March 2010
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Mr Coe: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, the question was specifically about the people of Casey and whether they could have a bus service, not about ACTION services in general.
MR STANHOPE: All the people of Canberra deserve a bus service, and the people of Casey will get a bus service. One of the great challenges in relation to ACTION, acknowledging that at the moment we invest $72 million in ACTION through the budget, is that the fare-box return averages around $20 million. In the context of the numbers, the resourcing and the resources available, you need to understand some of the bottom line figures in relation to supporting or providing a public transport system or providing ACTION—the $72 million cost through the budget to provide that service against a fare-box return of somewhere in the order of $20 million. We continue to invest and invest significantly in public transport and in ACTION.
But in the context of equity and the provision of services that will be most highly utilised and to reduce, of course, dead running, we do not introduce services, particularly in suburbs, until there is a critical mass that justifies the expenditure or the expense. But there will be ACTION bus services through Casey as the network expands, as there will be throughout the whole of Canberra.
Calvary Public Hospital
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health and relates to the new proposal being considered by the government to purchase Calvary Public Hospital. Minister, what other options are being considered by the government should the new proposal fail and, if so, what are they?
MS GALLAGHER: I welcome the question around Calvary. Indeed, whilst I am on my feet, I can probably table the information in accordance with the resolution of the Assembly of yesterday regarding documents held by the government in relation to this matter. I table the following papers:
Calvary Public Hospital—Proposed purchase by ACT Government—
Copies of—
Letter to Mr Tom Brennan, Chair, Little Company of Mary Health Care Ltd, from the Minister for Health, dated 25 February 2010.
Letter to the Deputy Chief Minister from Mr Tom Brennan, Chair, Little Company of Mary Health Care Ltd, dated 26 February 2010.
Letter to Archbishop Mark Coleridge from the Chief Minister, dated 12 March 2010.
Letter to the Chief Minister from the Most Reverend Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, dated 18 March 2010.
Transfer Agreement for the Purchase of Calvary Public Hospital—Treasury Financial Analysis, dated September 2009.
The government, as members are aware, has put a proposal to Little Company of Mary Health Care, and, indeed, more broadly the Catholic Church, around a proposal to purchase the building and to have Little Company of Mary operate the service for
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