Page 3393 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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I can hear how interested members of the opposition are in this forward-looking, vision-setting agenda that I am putting in place. I know that challenges the Liberal Party because they actually cannot look forward, they can only look backwards. This is about the benefit for the city as a whole, regardless of what political power may be the government of the day. I do not think there is any disagreement that health and education should be our priority.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: Chief Minister, could you advise the Assembly of two areas of activity which are already achieving success, please?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. In terms of some of those regional collaborations that I was talking about, last week I was very pleased to visit Queanbeyan hospital with the member for Monaro, to have a look at the facilities at Queanbeyan hospital. This is something that many sceptics said could not be done. They said that we could not actually do elective surgery—
Mr Hanson: No; said it should have been done years ago.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, thank you.
MS GALLAGHER: As much as it might surprise you, Mr Hanson, I am not actually referring to you. I just do not have this blind—
Members interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: I know that everything is about you; it is always about you. But this is not about you. This is about the elective surgery operations.
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Members, thank you. Let us move on.
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Hanson, no; there were people that said it could not be done, that we could not get ACT doctors to work in Queanbeyan hospital on patients from the ACT elective surgery waiting list. They said it had been tried before and it had failed.
It was with enormous pleasure that I went and talked with the staff at Queanbeyan hospital about the work that is being done and the opportunities for the future. Queanbeyan hospital are very excited about increasing the capacity for the work that they do, and it frees up some of the capacity constraints that we have in our very busy hospital. So it is a significant achievement. And it is not an achievement that I have achieved; it is an achievement of the Health Directorate, the Canberra Hospital staff and the staff of Queanbeyan hospital, who have accepted that we just needed to get it done, and we got it done. That is a fantastic outcome. It will be reviewed after 50
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