❓ Mr. Cook questions the Minister for Health about the timing of WA Country Health Service's approach to housing staff in the Pelago apartment complex. The Minister denies the timeline and details earlier discussions about regional housing.
AnsweredQoN 880Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING — PELAGO APARTMENT
COMPLEX
880. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for
Health:
I refer to information provided by
the WA Country Health Service that the first time that Country Health was approached
to house staff in Pelago East was 17 September, the day after the opposition
raised this issue in Parliament.
(1) Can the minister confirm that
this is correct?
(2) Can he confirm who made the
approach and what form that approach took?
COMPLEX
880. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for
Health:
I refer to information provided by
the WA Country Health Service that the first time that Country Health was approached
to house staff in Pelago East was 17 September, the day after the opposition
raised this issue in Parliament.
(1) Can the minister confirm that
this is correct?
(2) Can he confirm who made the
approach and what form that approach took?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) No,
it was not 17 September this year, which I presume the member is talking about.
No, that is not the case. In fact, we had discussions with the WA Country
Health Service about Pelago about a year ago in, I think, November 2013. I had
been having discussions. The former minister is not in the chamber today, but
the Department of Health had been talking about a proposal for Government
Regional Officers' Housing, which is managed by the Minister for
Housing, to take over the management of housing, and we had long discussions
about that. In fact, I raised the issue in the late 1990s when Kevin Prince was
the Minister for Health and I tried to convince him that Housing should take it
over. In the end, it proved very difficult because we had large amounts of
assets and the GROH program made it financially prohibitive for the Department
of Health to undertake that process, although we have not given up yet. As part
of that, funding was provided at the time for regional housing through royalties
for regions. My argument was: why should Health not get some of that? Although
we managed our own staff accommodation, it was important that our staff have
increased accommodation. We had discussions. I had informal verbal
conversations with the former minister about the opportunity for apartments at
the Pelago development.
Mr
R.H. Cook : Are you talking about Pelago East or Pelago West?
Dr
K.D. HAMES : I cannot recall. I can follow that up easily enough and
double-check. I have sighted a letter from me about the discussion. I will not
say when because I am not absolutely sure and I do not want to mislead the
house, but we had discussions about that proposal about a year ago.
it was not 17 September this year, which I presume the member is talking about.
No, that is not the case. In fact, we had discussions with the WA Country
Health Service about Pelago about a year ago in, I think, November 2013. I had
been having discussions. The former minister is not in the chamber today, but
the Department of Health had been talking about a proposal for Government
Regional Officers' Housing, which is managed by the Minister for
Housing, to take over the management of housing, and we had long discussions
about that. In fact, I raised the issue in the late 1990s when Kevin Prince was
the Minister for Health and I tried to convince him that Housing should take it
over. In the end, it proved very difficult because we had large amounts of
assets and the GROH program made it financially prohibitive for the Department
of Health to undertake that process, although we have not given up yet. As part
of that, funding was provided at the time for regional housing through royalties
for regions. My argument was: why should Health not get some of that? Although
we managed our own staff accommodation, it was important that our staff have
increased accommodation. We had discussions. I had informal verbal
conversations with the former minister about the opportunity for apartments at
the Pelago development.
Mr
R.H. Cook : Are you talking about Pelago East or Pelago West?
Dr
K.D. HAMES : I cannot recall. I can follow that up easily enough and
double-check. I have sighted a letter from me about the discussion. I will not
say when because I am not absolutely sure and I do not want to mislead the
house, but we had discussions about that proposal about a year ago.
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