Page 750 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
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strong, viable and accessible public health system. Mr Deputy Speaker, the public hospitals will always be a major part of the health system, providing the higher level services; but they must, I think, be complemented by the private sector - something which Mr Moore does not seem to understand.
Private hospital beds are provided at no cost to the Territory budget. The present levels of private hospital beds represent around 13 per cent of total beds and this, of course, is well below that of other States. In 1986, the Commonwealth Labor Government approved an extension of an additional 180 private beds over the 90 that existed then, in order to bring the Territory closer to the Australian average of around 25 per cent. What Mr Humphries has done as Minister is to add a further 30 beds, to reflect population growth since that time. He has moved to streamline health administration through the establishment of a new ACT Board of Health to take responsibility for the planning and provision of health services in Canberra. That move, in association with the creation of a new Ministry for Health, Education and the Arts, is achieving administrative and overhead savings of up to $4.5m in a full year - something which Mr Berry was unable to do.
A recent independent review of the nurses' career structure will overcome most of the problems that have been inherent in that original arrangement. This cooperative effort with trade unions will streamline administration within nursing services and give greater decision making capacity to nurses who are working directly with clients. As well, of course, it will produce ongoing savings of around $2m a year - another achievement for the Minister.
The Government's commitment to a strong and cooperative working relationship with trade unions has led to major advances in work force restructuring under the SEP principle. In the first 12 months that this Government was in power the number of days lost through industrial disputes was substantially less than that which the previous Labor Government experienced in only six months of office. That record has been maintained by the Minister, and congratulations to him.
There has been a massive restructuring of cleaning and food services in Royal Canberra Hospital. Over 50 cleaners have been offered voluntary redundancy packages, with almost 100 of such packages being accepted by food services staff in the hospital. The kitchen at Royal Canberra Hospital South has been effectively closed, and Royal Canberra Hospital North is providing a service to both those sites. Those changes have been brought in by the Minister, and I think they indicate the level of work that he has done.
Some of the things that have been said already by Mr Humphries and by Mr Kaine need to be resaid. It should be pointed out that the previous Minister for Health, Mr
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