Government backbencher John Hargreaves and former minister Wayne Berry, who retired last year after 19 years in the Legislative Assembly, weighed into the debate yesterday, calling on the Little Company of Mary and the Government to exclude the hospice from the deal.

Both ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher and Little Company of Mary chairman Tom Brennan have repeatedly said the sale of the hospital to the Government for $77 million is dependent on the sale of Clare Holland House to the company for $9 million.

Mr Hargreaves and Mr Berry - senior party figures within the right and left factions respectively - told The Canberra Times yesterday there was strong opposition within the party over the inclusion of the hospice in the deal. Mr Hargreaves said, ''Labor Party policy is that we should not dispose of public assets unless there is a good public interest reason to do so, and I don't see that that has been provided in this instance."

Mr Berry said under no circumstances should the hospice be sold, even if it meant the collapse of the deal to buy Calvary. ''The hospice should not pass into private hands, that's the bottom line.''

''I would think that philosophically almost all [Labor] party members would be opposed to the way it's going."

But Ms Gallagher rejected Mr Berry's claims. She said she had put it to the Little Company of Mary to exclude the hospice from negotiations but it had declined.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times.