Page 751 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
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Berry, presided over a budget overrun of some $2.5m for the first quarter of the 1989-90 financial year. If that trend had continued, he would have faced a blow-out of some $10m. A Treasury report said that it would have been less than this figure because of a variety of matters, such as the traditional closing of wards and operating theatres over the Christmas period.
Mr Berry was unable to swiftly implement cost saving measures announced in the first Territory budget. Negotiations with unions were still continuing in November, with no end in sight. In November, Mr Berry said that he expected them to conclude soon; but unions were already threatening industrial action, and, of course, I have already mentioned the industrial record. Frankly, Mr Berry was unable to control the health budget. He created confusion and uncertainty over how the hospital system was going to be run. It was very obvious that he was not keen on the recommendations of the Kearney report, and instead toyed with the idea of a three-member advisory structure. The decision was not announced until 28 November, when a hurried press release stated that the Government would establish a community services and health council and retain "a board of directors". All that did, Mr Berry, was create uncertainty and instability within the health system.
In contrast, look at what Mr Humphries has achieved. He has acted decisively to control the inherited budget difficulties left by the Follett Government. On 22 December Mr Humphries announced a package of saving measures to control the budget overrun. The Government later reported that, on advice received, the 1989-90 budget had been brought in on target. The Government, through Mr Humphries, concluded that the Follett hospital redevelopment project was simply too costly and would not result in sufficient savings.
Mr Humphries has acted decisively in his term of stewardship as Minister for Health, and to say that this man should resign is clearly ludicrous. Look at what has happened, though, in terms of what we have in this so-called budget overrun. On discovering a budget overrun, Mr Humphries asked that an immediate Treasury inquiry be conducted in order to reveal the extent of the problem. That inquiry took only one week and revealed, I might point out again, an overrun of only $1.1m - not $12m or $10m or $6m or whatever the figures are that have been quoted from the other side - which would not be supplemented in the normal way. It also revealed that debts worth some $3.5m had been carried over from the previous financial year, and that this fact had been hidden. Mr Humphries has announced that an external inquiry will now take place into how these matters came about - something, I think, that we are all interested in knowing. And he has also promised prompt action on the findings.
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