Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed I did not, Senator Conroy. We opposed it vigorously with the local community and the local mayors.

The federal member for Lyons, Dick Adams, did nothing to assist the cause of the Rosebery and Ouse communities. When the Howard government put up the funds to save the hospital, instead of welcoming the money, what did he do? He said, ‘It is a stunt.’ Mr Adams said at various times that he was working behind the scenes with the state government to upgrade the health services in both Rosebery and Ouse. But we did not see much.

Mr Adams is in the parliamentary diabetes support group as a colleague with me on the executive, and I have worked with Mr Adams happily and well and cooperatively in that regard. But he must be called to account on this matter. I cannot let Mr Adams or his party escape without the strongest rebuke for broken promises and the most misleading newsletter that I have seen in recent years. It said that Dick Adams was delighted that he has been able to secure a number of important projects for Lyons as well as a share in some major projects, such as those stated in Labor’s education revolution and its commitment to spend $2 billion on the health system, in conjunction with the state. It goes on to say ‘including assistance to upgrade the Ouse and Rosebery health centres’. Goodness me! What assistance has he provided? Absolutely none. The state government has downgraded both Ouse and Rosebery hospitals—and he has been part of it, working behind the scenes. He has done the exact opposite to what he is claiming in his newsletter. He is making an outrageous claim.

Mr Adams has also used the occasion of recent budget estimates committee hearings to describe the $2 million given to the hospitals by the Howard government last year as a ‘hoax’, and he said that no money was ever paid. What is he going to say to the mayors, the hospital action committees and the communities in Rosebery and Ouse who were there welcoming the money? I was there with Senator Bushby, rallying and walking through the streets of Rosebery. They were fighting so hard for that money and then when it was received from the Howard government they said, ‘Thank you. We have been working and lobbying so hard for this.’ They said, ‘Thank you,’ and welcomed it with open arms. It was all through the media and all through the community. The people of Rosebery and the west coast were thrilled with that $1 million for their hospitals. To say that it was a hoax and that it never happened is absolute arrant nonsense. I would ask Mr Adams to come into the other place, the House of Representatives, and apologise to the people of Rosebery and the west coast for claiming that that money was never paid, for claiming that it was a hoax and for claiming that the welcome and the wonderful response from those communities never happened. That is absolute arrant nonsense and I would ask him to apologise.

The federal Department of Health and Ageing wrote to both the West Coast Council and the Central Highlands Council confirming that $1 million in funding had been ‘committed’ to each council and that it would be withdrawn. That is exactly what the federal department did following the Rudd Labor government coming to power. So does the Labor Party think that voters in these regions are fools? Well, they are not. Those stories were quite clear; they were out there in the public arena. I want to commend Will Hodgman, the state leader for the Liberal Party, and Brett Whitely, Michael Hodgman and Rene Hidding, the state member for Lyons, for standing up for these communities and coming down with a policy position of restoring those hospital services—thank you.

Ian Wakefield, of the Australian Workers Union, and his team are planning a rally at Parliament House in Hobart on 2 April. It is supported by the Rosebery Hospital Action Committee and it is supported by me. I know the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team fully support it, because they are standing up for the people of Rosebery and the people of the west coast. I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with the union movement at that rally in Hobart on 2 April, telling the state government what to do and how they should be restoring the health services for the people of Rosebery and the people of the west coast. I thank the Rosebery Hospital Action Committee for all their work. They have done a sterling job: Paul O’Bryan, Richard Spurr, Anne Drake, Chris Winskill, Athol Broomhall, Ivan Crompton, Sue Gilligan and many other supporters. I was there on Wednesday last week in Rosebery meeting with them. They are real troopers and I thank them for their efforts.