Page 1218 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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I faced considerable confusion by people who were asking whether the 1 January deadline announced by Mr Berry before leaving office would be continued.
He knew as well as anybody else that that deadline could not have been maintained; that, irrespective of the change of government, there was no way that any new scheme could have been in place by 1 January. It is rather fortunate in many respects that Mr Berry lost office in December, because it certainly saved him the embarrassment of seeing the failure to meet his own deadline.
I think that the legislation introduced by my colleague Mr Duby will be welcomed by most people in the Territory because it addresses the serious question of funding our ACT Ambulance Service and also streamlines the administrative arrangements in place for that funding. In that sense it is a worthwhile endeavour; it will put us on a better financial footing and, as such, will contribute to the solving of our overall long-term financial problems.
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (5.01): Mr Speaker, I welcome the bipartisan support for these two Bills in the Assembly and I think the fact that they are supported on both sides of the house indicates that this is a measure that was long overdue.
The levy on health fund organisations is a budget proposal of the former Government and I guess that indicates why members opposite support it. The Ambulance Service Levy Bill 1990 gives effect to that proposal. As has been said by many speakers, the purpose of the Bill is to replace the existing voluntary subscription scheme for ambulance services with one which will enable sufficient revenue to be raised for the ACT Ambulance Service not to require subsidisation from consolidated revenue.
My colleagues Mr Collaery and Mr Humphries have stressed the point that we are living in hard times and that, unfortunately, this is a decision that had to be made. We know that a number of the voluntary health organisations operating in Canberra are dissatisfied with the introduction of these Bills but, unfortunately, it is a sign of the times that hard decisions are having to be made.
The current voluntary subscription scheme will cease on 30 June this year and subscribers will be refunded the unused portion of their annual subscription from 1 July when the levy legislation is to take effect.
Under the levy scheme, contributors to health fund organisations will be entitled to free ambulance services. Persons who are not contributors to a health fund will be able to obtain "ambulance only" cover through one of the health funds which are operating in the Territory. That situation is similar to that which occurs in New South Wales and is an administrative decision as to which fund
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