Page 4409 - Week 10 - Thursday, 23 September 2010
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The Assembly has been informed that the advice received outlined that the existing Crown lease and agreement resulted in a service concession arrangement, which means that the territory can include the Calvary Public Hospital land, buildings and equipment on its balance sheet as a service concession asset without having to purchase the legal title from the Little Company of Mary Health Care or enter into the proposed Calvary network agreement.
It is obvious that significant time and effort have been put into the negotiations over the future governance and ownership arrangements at Calvary Public Hospital by both the territory and the Little Company of Mary Health Care. I respect the ACT government’s preferred position, whereby the territory own and operate the hospital. However, it is now appropriate to accept that various factors mean that this proposal cannot proceed.
The Minister for Health has outlined that the best way forward at this stage is to continue to operate Calvary Public Hospital in accordance with current arrangements. I am in favour of the government now undertaking further preliminary planning and analysis of the hospital requirements on the north side of Canberra, taking into consideration there needs to be continued public and private hospital presence on the north side of Canberra.
The focus needs to remain on the requirements of north-side hospital services to ensure that the territory can meet the projected demand for services over the next decade. I support the government in continuing to develop a north-side hospital plan and look forward to receiving more information later in the year on this plan.
As we travel about, we members have conversations with all manner of constituents, and I have to tell you that the negative view on this whole sorry saga can be laid at the at the feet of those opposite—particularly Mr Hanson—who continually bag the negotiation process and continually suggest it has been done with ill will, when that is just nonsensical and inaccurate.
I for one am fed up with having to sit here and listen to the continual haranguing whilst sensible negotiations are going on between the Little Company of Mary Health Care and the government. I would not want to be trying to negotiate the purchase of anything under that atmosphere. It is almost doomed to failure from the start because of the way these people are putting out negative connotations into the public arena without any basis of fact—no basis of fact at all.
We have had conversations about a business arrangement. You do not do those out in public. You do not do the open tender process and invite everybody to put everything on the table. You do not. You have conversations in confidence. These conversations in confidence have gone on, and it is when the conversations are concluded that you reveal it. If the minister has had a failing in this regard, it has been that she has been too open about it. She has revealed everything about it.
Contrast that with the Bruce Stadium negotiations that we had to suffer in this place. Contrast that with the $10 million overnight loan that we had to suffer in this place.
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