Page 3124 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 10 September 1991
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This might not be necessarily positive or lasting, but certainly an example of the sorts of changes that were taking place and the almost traumatic level of dislocation that was occurring is the name of the department to which this report relates. This was part of a Federal Department of Territories shortly before this financial year in question began, when it was handed over by the Commonwealth Government to the ACT on the advent of self-government. It then became the Department of Community Services and Health, a name which I thought was unfortunate, given that there was a Federal Department of Community Services and Health; but, anyway, that is not the name that subsists, so I cannot complain. It then became the Department of Health, with the hiving off of community services. It then became the Ministry for Health, Education and the Arts, and has more recently become again the Department of Health.
Let us hope that that rapidly revolving door of change is not a permanent feature of the provision of services in the ACT because, clearly, that kind of change of name makes it very hard for people to keep up with what is happening and how they can best locate the deliverers of services in particular areas. I know people who still refer to the Department of Health as the Health Commission, which goes back a number of years. That is a reflection of the rapid number of changes that have occurred in the last few years.
As I said, it is a pity that these reports tend to come out so long after the period to which they relate. I suspect that it is largely because the accounts needed to be audited, and that generally is the last piece in the jigsaw to be available, such that it delays the rest of the report becoming available to the public. Nonetheless, let us hope that we can speed up that process in future years.
As I indicated, this has been a period of great change for the Territory and, I believe, essentially, a positive change. I think it is worth reflecting on just a few of the changes that have occurred in that period and commenting on the value of those changes. Mr Speaker, the first thing is that in that period the ACT Board of Health was created. That was a step to emulate the processes that New South Wales has now had in place for some time. I believe that that is an experiment that has worked, and worked well. I believe that the model put in place, where citizens of the Territory are given responsibility for running those health services which are so critical to the value of the Territory's lifestyle, is a good process. It is a valuable way of providing a service which reflects the needs of people in the Territory, and I think that model should be continued indefinitely. It has clearly worked.
Of less obvious agreement is the beginning of the hospital redevelopment process - itself a quite dramatic advance in hospital and health services in the Territory, a quite amazingly extensive restructuring of our services in this area. It is, to my knowledge, the largest civil
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