Transcription
distract from a hospital system that's literally falling apart. Is it? That's a disgraceful, disgraceful accusation to make.
This legislation has been put together very carefully over a long period of time in consultation with advocates and community groups. We've worked tirelessly to bring this legislation to bear. And this isn't about the government. This isn't about the opposition. This is about the people standing behind me. This is about providing the opportunity for people from right across our community to have the joy of having a child, of having a family. To say that this is a political exercise is quite frankly embarrassing and a disgrace.
Is the hospital system falling apart though? Our hospital system is performing extremely well on behalf of Western Australians. We have some hospitals which are older than others. Uh, in particular, Sir Charles Gardner Hospital, which is one of our heritage hospitals, is older infrastructure. It welcomes over half a million patients a year and is a very large and complex piece of infrastructure. So obviously, we need to continue to make sure we undertake the maintenance to ensure that it can provide quality health care, and it does. We know our hospitals continue to provide world-class health care through thick and thin, uh, through rain, hail, or shine. You know, they continue to perform extremely well. And in the case of Sir Charles Gardner Hospital, you know, even throughout the the reports of maintenance which has been undertaken or have been highlighted in the media today, no procedures, no operations have been delayed or cancelled as a result of that work.
Apology would suggest, well, what the the leader of the opposition did that was disgraceful. What he did was scare Western Australians on behalf of his own political hide, for his own ranked political advantage. He's scared, um, Western Australians and undermined their confidence in their healthcare. So people today must be, if they're listening to basic and perishable thought, if they are, are saying, is it safe to go to hospital? What an outrageous accusation to make and what an outrageous slur on the work of the doctors, the nurses, and all the support staff that go to make our great hospital system. We know our hospitals provide world-class healthcare. It's time the opposition grew up. That's some maturity of leadership and stopped trying to scare the people of Western Australia.
Isn't it the sight of a hole on the ceiling that's scaring people all the time? When people go to a hospital in Western Australia, they know that they are receiving some of the best health care that can be provided, certainly in Australia, and by world standards, very best. But that job is making harder, isn't it? Hundreds of repairs that are being done very slowly, according to those patients. We we know that with older infrastructure, it requires more work to make sure that continues to function and provide great health care, and that is the great work. That is the work which our our um, our hospital staff are providing every day of the week. We look at Sir Charles Gardener Hospital. It's a great example. Almost $70 million worth of investment to renew the ED in that area, to upgrade and expand the ICU. This is work that has to continue all the time.
But the maintenance budget that's being passed to North Well, I I I I hear that accusation, but I also hear the teams there were advising us that they are undertaking all the work that is necessary to make sure that we can provide great healthcare at that hospital. A nurse this morning on radio today. Sorry, there was a coral bleaching report out today that last year that was the worst coral bleaching event in Australia's history coast. Now, the experts say that to help coral reefs survive, climate change has been the main contributor to that, and that we need to reduce greenhouse.