Page 1602 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 12 May 2015
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I am sure it is, Madam Deputy Speaker—
as we were talking about before. As members are aware, last year the government invested $8.3 million to complete planning and forward design of the new hospital, which, as you all know, when completed will mean an extra 200 beds plus aged care, mental health and subacute services.
That is what you said, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am sure you were telling the truth when you said that. We have had members of the government, a former Chief Minister, officials, newsletters, a bipartisan committee report, option papers—everybody and every document—coming into this place, going out in to the community, all of the media, and everybody saying “200 beds”.
What has happened? What has happened is that this government has cut it to 140 and the minister is out there saying, “It’s 140 plus these other things that we will pretend to count as beds.” As you have identified, and as others have identified, Madam Deputy Speaker, it was going to be plus aged care, mental health and subacute services. It was always going to have outpatient services. They were always going to exist. Now what we have is a minister who has cut it to 140 beds and who is trying to pretend that those other services, which were always going to be provided, Madam Deputy Speaker, according to you, are now beds. So all of those outpatient services are now beds.
If we look at the smoking gun, the government’s “University of Canberra Public Hospital—design services contract” with Newpolis Pty Ltd, and we look for how many beds it is going to have, if we look at where the rubber actually hits the road, it refers to “a new 140-bed subacute facility”. Everybody has been saying 200, and what we find out when we read the fine print from this minister, when we read the contract, is that it refers to 140. So this minister has the gall to come in here with this motion today and lecture members of this Assembly about health funding and about making health a priority when this minister and this government have been touting 200 beds out in the community, touting 200 beds in the Assembly, and misleading people left, right and centre in our community. Quite clearly, what was going to be 200 beds is now 140 beds.
Madam Deputy Speaker, there are two scenarios, I suppose, when you look at this. One is that there were never going to be 200 beds and this has been a big con job. When people like you, Madam Deputy Speaker, were saying there would be an extra 200 beds plus, that was not true, and this has been a big scam and a big deception on the ACT community. That is option 1. I do not actually believe that, Madam Deputy Speaker, because I believe that when you came in here—and I know you well enough, Madam Deputy Speaker—you believed that. I do not think you were trying to scam the community. I do not think you were trying to mislead this place. I do not think you were trying to mislead the good people of Ginninderra. I think you came in here believing it was 200 beds, as I believed it was 200 beds, as the Australian nursing federation believed it was 200 beds, as Mr Rattenbury believed it was 200 beds, as Ms Bresnan believed it was 200 beds. The ABC, the Canberra Times and everybody believed it was 200 beds. No; I think it is scenario 2: it was 200 beds and it was always going to be 200 beds, but now it has been cut. It is now 140 beds because this government has cut it.
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