Page 2301 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 1 November 1989
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MR BERRY: I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. The administration of the hospital system, as the Leader of the Opposition, I am sure, would agree, is a very important feature of a first-quality health system. I think that this Government made it clear during the election process that any fat that was in the system would be discovered and where there were unnecessary administrative costs they would be turned to focus more on patient care.
There is no review going on at the moment, but I can say that in the budget process the administrative area, as the rest of the hospital system, bore some of the savings options as well. So it was part of the budget process to - - -
Mr Humphries: Can you be more specific?
MR BERRY: I have not got the figures in front of me, but I can say to you that, in terms of the budget process, the administrative area of community services and health was subjected to savings requirements.
MR KAINE: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. I asked specifically not about the hospital administration but about the central administration. The budget makes no reference to the kinds of savings about which I am talking here. That was one of my criticisms of it - that it talks about peripheral savings in terms of nurse shift overlap and that sort of saving at the hospitals, but it does not address the question of savings in the central administration, and that was the direction of my question. I wonder whether the Minister would care to answer it.
MR BERRY: I think I answered it before when I said that the administrative costs were subjected to savings in the budget process. The term "administrative costs" relates to a whole range of administrative areas, which includes the central administration.
Mr Kaine: But there are no staff savings identified there.
MR BERRY: Well, they are the sorts of savings, Mr Leader of the Opposition, which come from a reduction in costs. It usually reflects itself in staff savings in the administrative area.
Street Lighting
MR JENSEN: My question is directed to the Minister for Housing and Urban Services. I got it right today, Ellnor. I refer the Minister to representations which have been made to her by residents of Argyle Square, off Ainslie Avenue, Reid, for improved street lighting in the area. The Residents Rally has been advised that there have been a number of muggings and other incidents in the vicinity
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