Page 545 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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At some point it will have to move from where it is now because it is part of the hospital redevelopment site.
There are three definitive positions. What you have got is a minister saying, “Yes, we’re going to be closing this. We’re going to be moving it. It doesn’t work at the Canberra Hospital.” We know that. And I echoed that position. I said on 12 July, I think it was, “Yes, it’s not working at the Canberra Hospital.” We had a plan for urgent care clinics which essentially are a nurse-led clinic but with doctors. “They are better off in the community and you should shut it down at the Canberra Hospital when they are opened.” But when I said that, which was the right position, the government’s current position, this minister decided, “Right, here we go. It’s an election campaign. I’m going to completely backflip my position. I’m going to lie to the community for about three or four months to see whether I can run a bit of a fear campaign.”
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Hanson!
MR HANSON: She misled the community. I withdraw my comment “lied”. She misled the community. And what she said, amongst other things, to the faithful, was: “What I will not do if I’m Chief Minister after October 20 is close the nurse-led walk-in centre.”
What is beyond dispute is that the walk-in centre at the Canberra Hospital has been putting pressure on our ED, and there are numerous reports that have established that. I do not think that there is any dispute. So I am not being critical here today of the government’s decision to close that centre, and I want to make that clear. What I am being critical of is the fact that during the election campaign—knowing that that was the right decision to make, knowing that that was what she was going to do, having said previously that that was what she was going to do—she said something entirely different. She said she was not going to close it and she actively misled the community just for political advantage.
The Chief Minister can withdraw her previous comments made in this place that she always acts with decency or honesty or integrity. I think that would be useful. I have not moved a censure, I have not moved a vote of no confidence. I think the best way to put this behind you is to follow what I have asked you to do, which is to stand in this place and say, “Yes, I fibbed. Yes, I conned you all. Ha, ha, I’ve got myself into government. Now I have backflipped on that decision but I apologise.” And we will see this as a test of your honesty, Chief Minister. We will see this as a test of your decency and of your integrity.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Health and Minister for Higher Education) (4.29): I have to say that that was one of the more enjoyable motions on private members’ day that I have sat through for some time. If there was a gala evening of Assembly performance awards, that would be right up there. You would get yourself a gold statue, Mr Hanson. It shows that it has been a while since Old Stumpy—the stump speech—has been pulled out. I kind of enjoyed it. It is like an old friend; it is like a series return that you watch on TV, like Dr Who. Old Stumpy comes back and you just add to it!
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