Page 3956 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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In subparagraph (c), Mr Hanson says that accounting advice provided to the government has shown that the hospital does not need to be purchased before investment needs to be made into Calvary. He does not tell us when the advice was received. He does not tell us that, as soon as the minister became aware of the latest accounting change, she put a stop to the proceedings.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, people can actually go “ribbit, ribbit, ribbit” like frogs in a pond, but it is not going to deter me; it is not going to stop me. One of the idiotic claims in this motion that absolutely made me guffaw—but I know that to guffaw in this chamber is quite unparliamentary—is that if the opposition and others had not opposed the purchase and had not delayed the minister’s plans, she would have wasted $77 million. What on earth, Mr Speaker, makes those opposite feel or think that anybody in this town takes a blind notice of what they say or think? They have absolutely no impact at all, because these people are the ones who are dedicated to perpetuating themselves in opposition for forever and a day.
I just thought that this is a really silly motion. Mr Hanson could have done a lot better than he did. He says here in subparagraph (e)—Ms Bresnan actually touched on it—that the Calvary purchase fiasco—there is that word again, another bit of creating a state of fear so people run screaming into the shadows—has caused significant aggravation to the staff at the hospital and several community groups. I might argue, Mr Speaker, that it is Mr Hanson who has actually put the frights up the staff at Calvary in the same way that he has put the frights up the people in the maternity unit, that he has put the frights up people in the emergency department and that he has put the frights up people throughout the hospital system entirely.
The only thing that Mr Hanson knows about the hospital is when he actually visits. He probably knows where the kiosk or the canteen is. He would not know anything else about the hospital. He certainly would not know anything to the extent that I might.
Mr Hanson: It turns out I was right about Calvary. It turns out I was right about obstetrics.
MR HARGREAVES: I will back my 20 years of experience in the hospital system against his 20 minutes waiting in the queue at the canteen for something to eat.
Mr Hanson: Two out of two, mate. Two out of two.
MR HARGREAVES: And he screams at me across the chamber and does not pay me the same courtesy I paid him. I made absolutely no comment while he was speaking, not one comment while Mr Seselja was speaking—
Mr Seselja: You weren’t here when he was speaking.
MR HARGREAVES: Excuse me, excuse me. Now, the one thing that has not been touched on is what the $77 million is actually for. These people here would have the
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