Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The federal government provides around 47c of every dollar that state governments spend on hospitals. We provide money but we have no say in how they spend it. In my electorate of Mackellar the major hospital is the Mona Vale Hospital. It does not get its fair share of spending. It is starved of funds by the state government and, as a consequence, we have a state government that wishes to close it and build a single hospital on the northern beaches. That would mean that the people in my electorate would be sorrily disadvantaged and have no local hospital where their lives could be saved, as the hospital does now. I have been very much part of the movement to save Mona Vale Hospital and, indeed, to have it declared by the state government as the major hospital site and have a level 5 hospital there with a second, level 4, hospital elsewhere on the northern beaches.

I have never ever deviated from that principle. There have been strong rallies that I and others have addressed. We recently lost our local member, Mr John Brogden, when he resigned. We had a by-election on 26 November. The mayor was a leading proponent in the Mona Vale Hospital movement and stood on that platform during the whole of the by-election, saying that the Liberal Party candidate would not promise a level 5 hospital and would not promise to keep the hospital at Mona Vale upgraded. Therefore, he said, he was the only one who would go and fight for that hospital, and he was elected on that platform. He has not been in the job for more than two months and he has done a complete backflip and come up with a so-called alternative site in Warriewood. In other words, he has agreed with the state government that one hospital will do and that they can sell Mona Vale Hospital. The land is hugely valuable—clearly, the state government wants to get its hands on that land and has always wanted to.

They have agreed in this so-called backflip that certain parts of the Mona Vale land may be sold. This is something that we have all railed against for years, and he has betrayed the electorate. Mr McTaggart, who promised to resign as mayor, has now said he will remain as mayor. Presumably, he did make a comment to the local newspaper that by winning the election he was getting—pardon the expression—a ‘shitload of money’. Presumably, he thinks that the mayoral payment adds to that accumulation of money. Should he be re-elected at the next election, because of the way the state government superannuation scheme works he will be on a pension for life. So he will probably fight hard to get some more of that money.

As I said, he has lied about his promise to resign as mayor and is not doing so. His biggest lie is that about his commitment to Mona Vale Hospital. Having stood and said that he was the only man who could be elected for that, he has in fact deceived the entire electorate. Now we have a third one. This morning, he is reported as saying that I have sought an alternative site for the Mona Vale Hospital. That is his third lie. I simply say, ‘I have not.’ I have spoken to the general manager this morning. Mr McTaggart said the general manager had told him I had sought another site. That conversation took place this morning, with me on speaker phone so it could be overheard by my chief of staff. He listened to that conversation. During that conversation the general manager told me that he had briefed the mayor about his meeting with me last Friday when he came to brief me on the council’s proposal for the new site for a hospital.

I made it quite clear in that meeting that I always had supported, do support and will support the Mona Vale Hospital as the continuing hospital and the perfect site for a level 5 hospital. The general manager agreed that he had been verballed by the mayor and apologised to me. I accepted that apology. During that briefing last Friday with the Pittwater Council general manager, the general manager disagreed when I said to him that his duty was in fact to serve the people of Pittwater. He said that no, his job was to serve Pittwater Council.

What has happened as a result of Mr McTaggart’s backflip, deception and betrayal of the people of the Pittwater state electorate is that he has totally used Pittwater Council and its officers as an extension of his political arm. He has politicised the council itself. Mr McTaggart has taken over the office of Mr Brogden and has removed the name of Mr Brogden but has not put his own name on the office so that nobody really knows where to find him. Most of his announcements are made as the mayor. The state government makes provision for members of parliament to have offices set aside and to properly serve the people. I am afraid Mr McTaggart does not know how to separate his mayoral job responsibilities from his parliamentary responsibilities. As I said, he has been a state parliamentary member for barely two months and in that period of time he has totally backflipped on the one thing for which he said he was the only one who could represent Pittwater, which was to save Mona Vale Hospital and which he has now totally left.

In the course of that briefing, I was also told by the general manager that Mr McTaggart had had a meeting with Mr Iemma one week before the by-election. In that conversation he was made aware that the state government was about to make an announcement on the new site for the hospital and Mr McTaggart asked could they please put in a new submission and please could it not be announced before the by-election. So the people were totally deceived. Mr McTaggart knew that the state government was going to move away from the Mona Vale Hospital. He stood for the election and said, ‘Vote for me, I’m the salvation of the hospital,’ knowing that the state government was not going to back it and was then not prepared to fight—not even a skirmish, not one—not a speech, not a press release, nothing. There was no reaction to a new proposal to move Mona Vale Hospital a short distance down the road to Warriewood so there will only be one hospital and the land at Mona Vale can be sold off, which we have fought against all the time.

I can simply say that what Mr McTaggart has done is to betray the voters. Quite frankly, that makes him unfit for public office. He has said he will not resign from his mayoralty. Perhaps he should stay mayor and resign as the state member for Pittwater. Let us have a fresh by-election and elect someone who will not get elected on a lie and, when challenged subsequent to his election, continue to lie and utilise poor innocent members of his council’s staff as dupes. It is an absolute disgrace, and I will continue to fight for Mona Vale Hospital. It is the proper place for that hospital to be and it is land that must not be sold by the state government for more development, which is their ultimate aim.

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