ALP spin doctors seem to have woven their magic on David Broadbent ('Hurt by doing the right thing', 6/11). The State Government is concealing the truth about redevelopment of the Royal Children's Hospital in Royal Park and using children's medical services as a political football.

Since May, the Minister for Health, and local member, Bronwyn Pike, has indulged in a farce of "consultations" about the location for the redevelopment, a charade that ended in October with the public being offered limited options: extension of the existing hospital (west oreast) or a site in Docklands.

Last week, we discovered that the Docklands site, the option our coalition of four community groups supported, has been sold to private developers. And, in a new report, Docklands is categorised as unsuitable for the RCH helicopter service.

Now it is Hobson's choice: Royal Park or more of Royal Park.

Each signifies the loss of four hectares of parkland and destruction of landscaped vistas of our city parkland.

Koori heritage sites could also go.

With a huge budget surplus, the Government can afford to purchase land for the RCH and not seek false economies by taking over a huge slab of public parkland.

We want a new, world-class hospital, but we also want to keep intact precious inner-city parkland.

Patrick White's visionary statement 30 years ago, at a rally in Sydney's Centennial Park, applies today: "Your parks are your breathing spaces. Guard them... Parkland is valuable and greedy eyes see the money in it... always be on the alert."
KEVIN CHAMBERLIN, Protectors of Public Lands Victoria Inc, and JULIANNE BELL, Royal Park Protection Group Inc