Page 2717 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 June 2012
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which have already commenced, will be compatible with the rest of the Constitution Avenue upgrade and that all upgrades will provide a safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists?
MS GALLAGHER: We are working closely with the NCA on this project, as you would expect. So the answer to the first question is yes. In relation to the question around pedestrian and cycling access, again, those plans are out for community consultation. I have had some mixed responses to that, and we will incorporate all of that community consultation back into the decisions that we take during the final design stage.
MS BRESNAN: A supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Bresnan.
MS BRESNAN: Does the government have a commitment that the upgrade of Constitution Avenue would also allow for the future use of light rail?
MS GALLAGHER: As I understand it, yes, but those final design decisions have not been taken. We are out for those first community consultations at the moment and we will be taking some decisions based on that. As I said, we are not getting a large amount of interest from across the community. We are getting quite concentrated interest from the residents in Reid and Campbell and we will look to respond to that.
Mental health—in-patient facility
MR HANSON: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, in 2008, the scheduled date for completion of the adult mental health in-patient facility was September 2010. In 2009 the date was moved to June 2011. In the 2010 budget the date was moved to October 2011. In the 2011 budget the date was moved to December 2011. In January the stated completion date was moved to February 2012. On the 23 March 2012 the facility was officially opened and it was stated that it would be operational on 2 April. On 4 April it was stated that the facility would now be operational on 11 April. Minister, based on this record, how can Canberrans trust that the capital works announced in yesterday’s budget will be built on time?
MS GALLAGHER: I welcome the opportunity to talk about the state-of-the-art adult mental health unit that has been built on the Canberra Hospital site. Anyone who has visited that facility—indeed, we are getting quite a lot of interest from interstate—will recognise that we have built a state-of-the-art facility for some of our community’s most vulnerable residents. It is an enormous credit to everyone that has been involved in the design of that building to get it to this point where it is open and operational and providing people with excellent care in excellent amenity.
As Mr Hanson will know, this project has had a number of revisions made to it from the original date of the construction funding being made to it. We have had to take some decisions along the way. Unfortunately, some of the subcontractors on the site changed at the last minute through going into receivership and that certainly delayed the completion of the mental health unit in those final couple of months.
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