Page 3671 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 October 1991
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One of the most important issues which the Labor Government has had to deal with is the mismanagement of financing in the hospital system. When we were chucked out of government in 1989, we had discovered a difficulty in the health budget. That information was available to the then Minister. Subsequently, there was another budget blow-out. The reason that it occurred without the knowledge of the Minister was that he failed to pay close attention to what was going on. I am not going to stand up here and say that there will never be budget difficulties in the ACT hospital system, because I know that it has been left in a dreadful state and much work has to be done to repair the damage of the previous Government. We have moved to do something about that.
Mr Speaker, on taking government, one of the first things that I did was to require the board to provide me with regular updates on the financial affairs of the hospital system. I have had two reports in relation to that, and I am happy to say that the most recent figures provide me with welcome news that the ACT health budget is on track.
Mr Humphries: Let us see them then. Come on, where are they?
MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I released those figures today. As I have indicated, they are the result of regular briefings which I called for. We know that Health does not have a good record in financial management, but Labor is moving to encouraging budget responsibility in Health. We provided $380,000 in Labor's budget for improvements to financial management in Health. This, together with tight management of the budget, will lead to better results on what is going to be a long road to full recovery, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker.
We are not kidding ourselves. The health system was left to us in a dreadful state, and there is a lot of work to be done. But so far - and I say this tentatively - it looks as though things are going well. The problems in Health are not over, but the latest budget news at least gives us some cause for confidence that things are improving. That is because we have taken early action. In just a few months we are starting to get signs that things are improving. But we have to acknowledge, as well, that the budget borders that have been put on Health are tight ones. The budget is finely tuned, both to achieve results and to introduce efficiencies into our health system.
We are now in the process of consultation with health care unions which will be involved in the process of dealing with the delivery of that budget. They are concerned, as they ought to be, because, when there is change in the health system, there is an impact on workers within it. The Labor Government has given them a commitment to full access to information that they require in the consultation process. We will continue to work with unions in order that we can secure the best financial management and the
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