Page 223 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 November 2012

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We know from this government, from their litany of failures on capital works projects, that they make mistakes time and again. They break their promises time and again. And you only have to go to the GDE. Mr Corbell’s promise in 2001 was on time, on budget, which would have been $53 million in July 2005 I think it was. Instead, it opened last year with about four times the budget and it caused everybody enormous angst.

Just go to the timings on the women’s and children’s hospital. Capital funding in the 2008-09 budget was $90 million over four years with an expected completion date of June 2012. That is from budget paper 4, page 172. We know it cost more than $90 million and we opened up half a hospital. It seems to be a tradition amongst the Labor Party. I wonder what public-funded capital work in August 2016 will be half open in the continuing tradition of the Labor Party in this territory and their inability to deliver capital works.

We know Ms Gallagher told the Northside Chronicle that the new building would be constructed and functional before the end of 2011. Here we are at the end of 2012 and we have got half a hospital, and there is serious concern about the functionality of it. Budget 2009-10 was rolled over from 2008-09 and from 2009-10 to 2010-11, and from 2011-12 to 2012-13. In the 2010-11 budget there was a transfer of $7.37 million from phase 1. It just goes on. It is a litany of failure to deliver significant capital works to the standard they should be delivered on time and on budget in a city that should get better for its money.

This is the problem. All we have from the minister is continuing denial—denial after denial of responsibility, denial after denial of the facts, denial after denial of her role in it. It is constantly, in this case, letting the women and the children of the ACT down, and they should not be. (Time expired)

Question put:

That Ms Gallagher’s amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

MR HANSON (Molonglo) (5.38): I thank members for their contributions. In particular, Mrs Jones, thank you very much for your words. I think your perspective as a mother of four children, at last count, was very useful. Mr Smyth, again, with your wealth of experience, I thank you for your contribution. I am disappointed, I must say, that Mr Rattenbury will not be supporting the motion unamended as such

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