Page 2576 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
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up to match what is going on in other hospitals; that much work had gone into design—and it had. That is the tragedy of this, and there was great disappointment when it did not go ahead.
The project director who was working on this project before it was cancelled when Labor took the $41 million out of the budget said it reflects much-needed infrastructure. He said the hospital is the one and only tertiary facility in Canberra and it is relying on 40 to 50-year-old infrastructure which is at risk of failure.
Do you know what the Labor Party’s plan is, Madam Speaker? We heard this in estimates when we were asking questions about what had happened to the rebuild of the Canberra Hospital. The health bureaucrats said they are going to manage high-risk and extreme-risk infrastructure. That is their plan. Our plan is to rebuild, to expand—to build capacity and infrastructure in the 21st century. The Labor Party plan is to crisis manage high-risk and extreme-risk infrastructure, and all because they are putting every available dollar they can into a tram.
The question is, of course: where did the money go? I will quote from 2014 when this was all starting to fall apart. Mrs Jones asked a question without notice in this place of Ms Gallagher about how the $800 million project would be funded. This is when we were talking about the whole project. Ms Gallagher said:
I thank Mrs Jones for the question. I think the budget has shown the preparedness of this government to make provision for large infrastructure projects. We have made provision …
Mr Corbell is today on the radio saying the money is not there. Ms Gallagher said two years ago the money is there:
We have made provision, and we have also made space within the budget to fund those projects. The health infrastructure project is the largest infrastructure project being run by the government and it will require continued capital investment over the next 10 years …
We have got this government saying, “Well, the money’s not there anymore.” Where do you think it has gone, members? The $375 million Ms Gallagher said was there, and more—all of a sudden it is not there. What could this money have been spent on? The $375 million is in the budget to fund a tram!
Let me be very clear. There is a crossroads on 15 October, and the decision for the people of Canberra is this: do they want the first $375 million, and tens and hundreds of millions more, spent on a tram—that is the Labor-Greens choice—or do they want $375 million spent on rebuilding the Canberra Hospital? That is the choice. I think it is great that the people of Canberra have a choice, and I look forward to 15 October when the people of Canberra can have their say.
MS FITZHARRIS (Molonglo—Minister for Higher Education, Training and Research, Minister for Transport Canberra and City Services and Assistant Minister for Health) (10.17): The government will not be supporting Mr Hanson’s motion today, and I would like to move an amendment in my name.
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