John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It is the second killer blow of this question time! That is a real revelation! It suggests that you were in the Labor Party, Brendan. I have never heard that before!

Could we go back to the Mersey hospital? I think what the people of Devonport and the people of Northern Tasmania would like to know is: where does the Leader of the Opposition stand on this issue? Does he want to keep this hospital open, or does he effectively want to downgrade it to a subclass facility? He was asked this by Fran Kelly on three occasions yesterday morning and he said, ‘Oh, I’m waiting on all the details.’ But all the details are there.

There comes a time when you can no longer sit on the fence and you can no longer keep all of your options open. We are for the people of Devonport. We are for keeping this hospital open as a full public hospital facility. We believe in looking after the interests of 70,000 Northern Tasmanians—and they would like the Leader of the Opposition to get off the fence and say where he stands.

See this speech in context