Page 4402 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 19 November 1991
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have been calculated. But the systems problem still seems to be there in relation to the issue of the cost to the various departments and agencies of their rental accommodation.
I suggest that departments and agencies that are required to justify the use of private accommodation may be a little more careful when spending their own funds. It is really time for the Government and their advisers to finally sort out this issue once and for all. I trust that we will not see a need for a further recommendation in next year's report - a report in which I hope to be participating in one way or another when the next Assembly commences.
One thing I am particularly concerned about is the apparent inability of the Ministers to say how they were going to save money from their salaries budgets. It seems that the knife was being put through all but two programs in this area, without any clear indication of where and when the cuts might be achieved. We were told many times that negotiations are continuing. However, as the end of the year fast approaches, my questioning during the estimates hearings, and the questioning of others, suggests that the Government may well find that it is unable to meet this large cut in its salaries budgets because the people expected to be gone are still on the payroll. We all look with interest at the budget and trust that the so-called cuts in administrative areas are not Clayton's cuts; that we are not seeing across-the-board cuts for the sake of making cuts rather than a fundamental reassessment of the staffing needs of the agencies.
Let me at this time make a comment in relation to one proposed cut that caused some consternation in this Assembly when we were sitting last time. I am referring to the cut in the section which licenses, monitors and advises on the provision of some 203 child-care services. The Minister seems to suggest, both in questioning during the estimates hearings and in the Assembly, that a cut in this area is not going to be a cut in their ability to deliver much needed services. It would seem that we have a small group of people who are required to monitor, license and advise some 203 services providing a large number of child day care places. It was proposed, as I understand it, to include another 80 child-care places in this area.
It is not just a simple matter of licensing; it is also a matter of monitoring and advising those 203 services. Information available to me suggests that any cuts in this area, which appear to be likely, may affect the ability of that group to deliver services. I think it is rather unfortunate if that is to be the case, because of the increasing need for this type of service within the ACT. I trust that the Chief Minister will respond to our final recommendation on this issue, that is, paragraph 3.102, in her response to this Assembly tomorrow.
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