Page 2870 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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It is a disgrace to try to turn this into a debate about the Canberra Liberals. If it were not for us, that pool may well be closed by now, and the minister knows that very well. An apology only means something when the person giving it makes a commitment to change their behaviour and not continue doing what they were doing before.
Yes, there is a dilemma—the dilemma is that it is very aged infrastructure. The dilemma is that, as everybody here agrees, the pool cannot stay open for the long-term. But it can stay open for the short term, and perhaps the minister should be more up-front with people and tell them about the building works going on above, below and around the pool and what is intended to be built on that site.
I do not think anybody is against improvements at the hospital, and the members who use the swimming pool have a right to know what the heck is going on at that site. There is probably an argument, which they would accept and understand and agree to, for better health care for another group of people. But this government is so disrespectful of people that it thinks it cannot tell them the whole story.
This debate will go on indefinitely until a reasonable solution is found. People have worked out that the government has not been listening to them, has a tin ear and makes excuses and fake apologies. We hope and expect that this group of health users will have their needs met on the south side while a report is done into the building of a new facility.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (11.09): The mismanagement of the proposed closure of the hydrotherapy pool at the Canberra Hospital is yet another slap in the face for older Canberrans, which is what I want to focus on today. My colleague Mrs Dunne has spoken about the issues of the pool itself, and I want to highlight the broader issue that it is negligent of the needs of older Canberrans, who are very large users of hydrotherapy facilities.
This is yet another example of how this ACT government continues to ignore the needs of older Canberrans. They have consistently and disproportionately hit older Canberrans hardest, such as with rate rises and difficult to access and uncoordinated services. Under this government it is sad to say that the needs of seniors are largely being ignored and they are treated as second-class citizens. The Labor-Greens government have shown over and over again their disregard and their lack of priority for older Canberrans.
Currently over 70,000 people in the ACT are over the age of 60, and this will only increase with the ageing of the population. In its rush to be hip and trendy the government is neglecting the very real needs of older Canberrans. These are the people who have spent their lifetimes building and contributing to the wealth of the city. They have made Canberra what it is today, and it can be enjoyed by all. But now many of them are to be denied easy access to a hydrotherapy pool.
Older Canberrans need to socialise and mobilise to live happy, healthy lives. Hydrotherapy has many benefits in health and healing—it reduces muscle tension and relieves pain, rehabilitates injured muscles, boosts the immune system, encourages
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