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Canberra Today 17°/20° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

ACT QT: Burnet blues

Question Time in the ACT Legislative Assembly today centred primarily around prison, with particular regard to the leaked Burnet Report on healthcare in the Alexander Maconochie Centre and text messages recieved by Joy Burch’s office on a departmental cover up at Bimberi, with Green interludes on the tendering process for youth services and the feed-in tariff.

With Health Minister Katy Gallagher and Attorney General Simon Corbell hand balling the issue back and forth, the Opposition benches got very little love from their Burnet inquisition.

Gallagher said she had seen the report, a good thing since it was delivered to her in December 2010, but that she expected to receive the final report with “minor changes” tomorrow. She wouldn’t be drawn on the content of the report, saying only that there was always room for improvement and health workers at the prison were doing their best.

“Good on you, Mr Hanson, you’ve been so responsible with it,” Gallagher said to Liberal MLA Jeremy Hanson of the leaked report.

“It would be interesting to know how long Mr Hanson’s had it.”

Corbell took the attack route, accusing the Opposition of being naive to think there was any prison in the world that did not have drugs in it. Arguing that no matter what supply reduction strategies were in place, the AMC will never be drug free.

The Greens took the opportunity to bring up the Needle Exchange Program proposal for the prison, asking Gallagher if she would be talking to newly elected NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell about this issue, saying he is a supporter of NEPs.

“That is not true!” Jeremy Hanson interjected.

Gallagher agreed she would talk to O’Farrell and that it was a serious public health issue, “people are dying because of blood-borne viruses”.

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