Page 3671 - Week 08 - Thursday, 19 August 2010
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MR HANSON: The minister still has the opportunity to buy the hospital. She still wants to do it, and I think what we are seeing coming forward from the minister and from the Chief Minister is that this is actually driven far more by their ideological desires than any rational calculation of what are the best options both fiscally and in terms of delivering the hospital system that we need in the north of Canberra.
The minister has told us all along—she started this process in secret—when it came to light in April 2009 that there was only one way of doing this, there was only one option. She has been proved categorically wrong today in her tabling statement, because what she has presented are four options. There may be others as well, but she has admitted today that she was wrong. She said there is only one way of doing this. What we have seen today is a comprehensive backflip on that position—she is now presenting four options as a way to move forward.
I say quite openly that I am happy to be engaged in this process, as we were when we first received a brief. We received a brief when this first came to light.
Mr Stanhope: Garbage. That is garbage, Jeremy.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order!
MR HANSON: We spent six months in deliberations. I had a couple of briefs with the minister and with Treasury officials. We looked at this in a lot of detail and we spent a lot of time formulating our opposition. I remember the minister and the Chief Minister hectoring, “Where’s the opposition? Where’s your position? Tell us what you’re going to do.” What we did, after due consideration, because we were not going to be rushed, was that we then came out with a very clear position in November last year—that is, we should not be proceeding with the purchase because we do not need to spend $77 million and that there are other ways around it. That was our position, and that has been proved entirely correct, which we see in this paper.
Ms Gallagher: So you saw into the future?
MR HANSON: Indeed we did, but it was not us alone because—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, members. Minister, please do not stoke Mr Hanson. Mr Hanson, please address your remarks through the chair.
MR HANSON: Mr Assistant Speaker, yes. Indeed, we recognised, as many others did in this community, that spending $77 million on the hospital was but one way of achieving the desired outcome, which was to enhance and improve our hospital system in northern Canberra. We saw it as the least attractive, and we saw a number of other options. Those options are now on the table. There are four there, and there are others that have been suggested by Tony Harris and by others.
What I would like to now say is that we want to be engaged in that process, if the minister wants to provide us with briefings as she moves forward. We are happy to be engaged in that process, but we will not be rushed into making our decision because
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