Linda White (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sure. I'm happy to withdraw that. To me, the debate hinges on a few things—firstly, on a matter of principle. This bill sits badly with me. The Senate and the federal parliament should not seek to interfere or meddle in the decisions made by other democratically elected governments. This principle has been developed over a long time, and it was again confirmed with the passage of the Restoring Territory Rights Bill last year, which saw the principle of territory self-government reinforced by the federal parliament. From a technical legal angle, the evidence given by the ACT Solicitor-General to the inquiry that it would be legally unprecedented for one government to direct the executive actions of another government also confirms my view that this bill is a bad idea.

From a policy point of view, I also happen to think that it's fair and reasonable for the ACT government to own the land and hospital buildings that are entirely funded by the people of the ACT. If you're spending billions of dollars over decades on a public hospital, it makes sense you would want to own it.

Finally, while I take the criticism in relation to motivation, the people that wrote to me by e-mail definitely called out this reason. They said this was motivated by a view to limit religious freedom. They didn't talk about ACT rights or territory rights. What they said was totally homing in on religious freedom. I have no objection, and nor should any of us, to the rights of Catholic Australians to practise their religion or publicly put their views on issues in this way, but in no way should it undermine the public ownership of North Canberra Hospital.

The ACT government's decision is not part of a wider plot to undermine religious freedom in Australia. It was a government decision which would have been taken had the administrators of the hospital been based in faith or not. On that basis, I'm glad that the government will not be supporting the passage of this bill.