Page 2273 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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MR COE: Yes, Mr Speaker. Minister, will you delay the Calvary deal until such time as the planned capital element of the national health reform is resolved and made clear to the community?
MS GALLAGHER: No; in fact, the opposite. We are trying to make sure that we can finalise any outcome with Calvary as soon as possible. It is disruptive, I think, for staff to have these negotiations continue for much longer. Little Company of Mary want to see it finalised as soon as possible. In fact, a date I have seen was to have it finalised by November. I do not know if that is achievable.
There is not any reason to delay it around the capital component. We will need to spend the money on Calvary—and we have been spending the money on Calvary with the new intensive care unit just opening up there—regardless of how the capital component of the national health care agreement rolls out.
MR SPEAKER: Supplementary, Mr Hanson?
MR HANSON: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, have you conducted revised modelling on the Calvary purchase on the basis of 60 per cent of capital funding being provided by the commonwealth?
MS GALLAGHER: No, we have not, and it does not alter the fact, because the requirements of the money that we would need to invest in Calvary still make it a very expensive deal for the ACT and a very expensive deal for our bottom line.
MS BRESNAN: A supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Bresnan.
MS BRESNAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, under the new arrangements with Calvary or Little Company of Mary, will staff at Calvary continue to be employed by the ACT government?
MS GALLAGHER: Yes. That is the bottom line for the government. There are mixed views on that around the negotiating table, but certainly, for us, that is our bottom line.
ACTION bus service—complaints
MS BRESNAN: My question is for the Minister for Transport and is about the customer complaints concerning ACTION. Minister, the Greens recently wrote to you about ACTION’s failure to respond to complaints in an appropriate and timely manner, and you replied that new procedures are in place to ensure this no longer occurs. We also passed on complaints about route 10 to Aranda failing to operate as scheduled, and you indicated that you had asked ACTION to ensure that this route operates according to schedule. Minister, what new procedures are in place to ensure customers receive appropriate and timely responses to inquiries, and why were such procedures not in place to begin with?
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