Page 5392 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
They say, and I agree with them, that it is close to unique in the Westminster style of government. It is certainly unique in the ACT. There is no other institution in the ACT Government area that is required to report to this Assembly in this way. Nobody would argue about the need for accountability to the Assembly and so on. Of course, the board readily accepts that accountability.
We all know the grilling that we get each year when it comes to the Estimates Committee. A lot of carefully considered questions and a lot of carefully considered answers pass between the parties to that committee. Oftentimes the questions do not please the people who are required to answer them, and it is often the case that the answers do not satisfy the people who have asked the questions. But thems the breaks in politics. You cannot write the answers yourself. You just have to cop what is going and interrogate people to the fullest extent possible.
Mr Humphries seeks to make a meal of not being able to get the answers that he can make most political use of. Well, he can make a meal of it. He might be able to rattle up the numbers, but nothing can change the fact that he gets answers which are appropriate to the circumstances. What has happened in this case is that a board with heavy statutory responsibilities will be diverted from its primary focus of health care to financial reporting, and I do not think that that will be very helpful in the scheme of things in our health and hospital system.
I have developed a pretty good relationship with the board. That is acknowledged by Mr Service. But I think we also have to ensure that the Legislative Assembly has a good relationship with the board, because it created it. It is important that it value the service which is provided by the board at no cost because of the decision of the former Government.
The chairman of the board has asked me to request members to rescind that motion because it believes that it can better manage its responsibilities without that sort of level of intervention. The purpose of this motion is to bring to members the request of the chairman. I would hope that the debate is not too acrimonious. Nevertheless, it is an issue of concern to the Government that the board be allowed to get on with its job.
We have provided the figures over three months, which should indicate to members that for the first time - I repeat, for the first time - the board can show that it is on top of the issues. This has never occurred in the past. It is an unprecedented provision of information which has not been available to members in this house.
I have to take some credit for that because it was Labor who first uncovered the difficulties in health financial affairs, and I am happy to say that it was a Labor
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .