Page 2868 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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I have heard about this issue, standing out at local shopping centres, for getting close to 10 years now. The fact that the government did not work out that there was an issue until the Liberals brought a motion into this place shows that they have a tin ear and are completely disrespectful to the health users of the ACT.
People using the hydrotherapy pool are managing chronic pain, comorbidities, disabilities, mental illness, PTSD, injuries, long-term conditions like arthritis, have undergone surgery or have had a stroke. They expect and need water between 32 and 34 degrees. This is the type of hydrotherapy they are concerned about losing with the closure of the pool.
Hydrotherapy is not just for rehabilitation and recovery but also for the ongoing maintenance of health issues. I discovered this after one conversation with a group of users, but it took this government thousands of dollars and a report from the Nous Group to understand the very basics of what we have been bringing to this place for at least months now.
Over 3,000 residents signed a petition months ago calling on the government to keep the pool open until some sort of replacement is provided. We have heard again today that the pool is not falling apart; it is in good working order. It is interesting that the minister should attack the Canberra Liberals for having an opinion on what good working order is, as though we have no knowledge of how mechanical matters work, as if we have not had conversations with those who maintain the swimming pool and as though the government have never put out a report which manipulates outcomes so that they can do what they want, whether the people like it or not.
What users have been through has been an unnecessary and anxious experience. The government keeps repeating that there is a safety issue and is trying to make people feel guilty about the services they need, when this government has totally missed the point for over a decade.
In the motion in May in this place the former minister—health minister version 0.5 for this government—said that the Nous report would check the supply of other facilities and provide advice to government about securing sessions at those facilities. That was said in this place by the minister. Surprise, surprise! The Nous Group’s report has no information about the supply of other facilities or advice to government about the sessions at these facilities that the government could book. Only a Labor minister with a tin ear would present a report which was supposed to have a solution in it with no solution in it.
Yes, there are safety issues. There are safety issues every time we drive down the street and there are safety issues every time we go into the Canberra Hospital, which was built a long time ago and was due for replacement a lot sooner than has occurred. This government oversaw the spontaneous combustion of the major switchboard at the Canberra Hospital, so do not come in here lecturing us about what is safe and what is not.
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