Page 951 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 March 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
the people of the ACT that the Labor Party was now committed. After saying that they would not do it for a decade, after saying to the Liberal Party that it did not need to be done, on the back of polling, she was out there saying, “No, we are going to do it. Trust us. Here is our plan.”
No-one fell for that. No-one who knew what was going on, who looked at the detail, fell for that. Certainly the Canberra Times did not in their editorial. I will read that. Certainly the AMA did not. It is not surprising. Mrs Dunne has been a little disingenuous in saying that it was done on the back of a beer coaster, because when you actually look at the Labor Party policy, there was a front page that just said that it was the Labor Party policy. There was a waffling foreword by the Chief Minister that does not talk anything about the policy itself. Then it was on a page, Madam Speaker. There was a page—
Mrs Jones: There was a map.
MR HANSON: Oh, the map on the back! I reckon my 12-year-old could have done a better job of presenting where the SPIRE would go. No, I do not think that that is actually the location it is going to be, is it? We have changed it a few times now. I will table this because it shows you what a mockery this policy was, what a joke it was, cooked up overnight, who knows by whom. But it was—
MADAM SPEAKER: You need leave to table the paper.
MR HANSON: I seek leave to table the document.
Leave granted.
MR HANSON: I table the following paper:
Canberra Hospital—$500m Infrastructure Investment—Caring for Canberrans When and Where They Need It, prepared by ACT Labor.
It was manifestly inadequate. That is why the AMA, when the government came out with this, said about the policy, “We have been impressed with the plans of the Canberra Liberals and are urging Labor to take a bipartisan approach.” They were urging them to take a more bipartisan approach. But when they rated this policy, there was the comment:
No detail available about how ‘Spire centre’ was planned … The physical infrastructure of the Centenary Hospital is already at capacity, so it is unclear where all the additional facilities will be housed and located.
Timeframe None given
But there was Minister Fitzharris out there smiling away and saying, “Trust us, we will build this.” What did the Canberra Times say when they had looked at this? This is from a newspaper editorial last year:
While the ACT Government is well known for its willingness to test the credulity of the electorate, its recent claim work on the new hospital will be under way in 2020 is going to be hard to top.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video