House debates

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Statements by Members

Western Australian State Election

1:52 pm

Photo of Tim HammondTim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Well, well, well! Another day goes by—another tale of woe insofar as Colin Barnett and the state Liberal government go, as we march towards the election on 11 March, just around the corner. And today it is health. As if yesterday was not bad enough, where it was infrastructure, what do I see today: a united, unified, eloquent Western Australian Labor team—and not a single member on the other side from Western Australia prepared to go into bat for Colin Barnett and his Liberals.

In relation to health, it cannot get any worse than the Perth Children's Hospital. It would be funny if it were not so tragic and the health of kids were not at stake. In February 2010, the new Children's Hospital was announced, with a spend of $1.2 billion, projected to be done by late 2015. If only it were so! Not only did we see, in July 2016, asbestos contamination riddling the site, with over 500 workers having to sign an asbestos register as at risk from having been exposed to asbestos, but also—it gets worse—in 2016 it was discovered that there was lead in the Perth Children's Hospital's water supply. It is still not remedied. In January 2017, an FOI from the shadow minister for health revealed 3,000 defects still unremedied at the Perth Children's Hospital.

It is another tale of woe, another day where it cannot get any worse for Colin Barnett, and another day closer to the time when the community should and must act to turf that government out, to make sure we elect a Mark McGowan state Labor government. (Time expired)