Page 1687 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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solution, but I also thank Mrs Dunne for bringing this important matter to the Assembly for debate. We seem to have reached a good place in this discussion today. I look forward primarily to hearing the update on this work in the August sittings.
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (11.27): I thank Mrs Dunne for bringing this motion to the Assembly today and I welcome the minister’s backflip on this issue. It is another significant fail that we have got to this point. The minister might shake her head, but that we have got to this point is astounding.
Hydrotherapy with water of 34 to 36 degrees is used by many people, for many reasons. Hydrotherapy works wonders for those managing chronic pain or suffering from arthritis. It is used by people who have been injured, undergone surgery, suffer from PTSD or have had a stroke. It is used for rehabilitation, for recovery and also for those suffering severe and ongoing conditions, sometimes stalling deterioration or reversing the effects of very serious illness.
I welcome today into the gallery in particular representatives of Arthritis ACT: Rebecca, the very capable spokesperson for the organisation, Ian, Angela, Maureen, Gordon, Joan, Yaa, Paul, Patricia and others. I commend you on your articulate manner of bringing this issue to light. It has been a pleasure to work with you.
Hydrotherapy also saves the health system time and money by helping to keep patients healthy and active and out of hospital and other health service support services.
I have heard from numerous residents in my electorate who are very concerned about the impending closure. In fact residents have been quite distressed that we have got to this point. The minister clearly stated in her speech that she believed consultation had occurred. I think this goes to the heart of one of the biggest problems with this government: I do not think that that word means what they think it means. I do not know the last time the minister sat down around the kitchen table with any members of the Canberra community and stopped listening to people who tell her that they have consulted when clearly they have not, have not done so properly or were not really listening in the first place. There is a petition on this matter that will come shortly to this place.
During estimates last year Ms Fitzharris talked about Stromlo pool it was not us who suggested Stromlo pool; it was the government who suggested that Stromlo pool would have a hydrotherapy pool in it, clearly not understanding that hydrotherapy requires 34 to 36-degree water. That is not our job to know; that is the minister’s job to know.
But these promises to the community did not seem to mean much to the government. The Chief Minister himself said so on talkback. A summary on his own website now of the talkback discussion—not a quote from him but a summary written by his own people—says that ACT Health would:
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