Page 3965 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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your advice was, what the accounting advice was, and what the legal advice that you used to back that up was, when you went back and checked it. If you are going to make a whole lot of changes, policy changes in relation to the administration of one of Canberra’s two public hospitals, what is the problem with putting on the table the information that you are using? Why is it that the Greens will support you, will not demand this of you? They are here, saying, “We are a new force in politics. We want open and accountable government,” except when Katy Gallagher and Jon Stanhope say to them, “No. Really it is not very convenient on this occasion.”
Ms Gallagher’s amendment goes to my narrative. My narrative is that this government seem to have something to hide. If they did not have something to hide, we would not have had to move the motion that Mr Hanson has moved today, because Ms Gallagher would be prepared to come out and say, “Here it is. Here, people of Canberra, have a look at it. You will see that I am right. You will see the problems that I am confronting.”
But no! Mr Hanson and the Canberra Liberals, for the past 18 months, have been grasping, fighting tooth and nail, for openness on this matter. Again here today, we have Ms Gallagher in cahoots with the Greens, saying, “It is not good enough. The people of the ACT do not deserve openness on this issue.” Ms Gallagher’s amendment basically comes back and says, “I will find a convenient way of explaining it to you in my words. I will tell you what the story is,” not, “Here is the information and you can read it and make up your own mind.” We are going to be led down the garden path again by Ms Gallagher.
This Assembly has spent a lot of time over the last 18 months trying to get to the bottom of the motivation that this government has in its attempt to take over Calvary hospital. Ms Gallagher and Ms Bresnan can stand up here and say again, “I am very pleased that Mr Hanson has brought this matter to the attention of the Assembly again on private members’ day.” They say it through gritted teeth.
We have to do this because so much is at stake. The future good administration of one of our public hospitals is at stake. The future underpinning of our budget is at stake. The future of the health of the people in my electorate is at stake. And I do not make any apologies and I will not be cowed by this government. I will stand up for the people in my electorate who depend upon that hospital and who want answers.
Why is it that Katy Gallagher is going down this path? And what is it that Katy Gallagher has to hide? If everything was as she said, she would put these matters on the table. Mr Hanson would not have to come back here time after time and try to get some transparency into this issue. The fact is that time after time Mr Hanson comes in here in an attempt to gain transparency and the Labor-Greens alliance, coalition, coalesce to tell the people of Canberra, “Don’t worry about it. It’s all right. Katy Gallagher is looking after it and you can be confident.”
I am not confident. The people in my electorate are not confident. And I will continue to stand up for openness, for accountability and for real information about what is driving this deal. What is driving Katy Gallagher in such an obsessed way? Twice she has come up with failed propositions in relation to Calvary and now she is coming
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