Page 5394 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
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MR HUMPHRIES: Well, Mr Berry certainly indicated somewhere - I cannot recall whether it was in a press release or to the Estimates Committee - that he would make available information about the monthly statements.
Mr Berry: For September and August.
MR HUMPHRIES: No, it was not just for September. It was two months that we received, in any case, Mr Berry, not just one. The fact is that Mr Berry ran around saying, "Here we are. What good boys we have been; we have produced these monthly statements; we have proved that we are really an open and consultative government". However, the policy then became uncomfortable. He decided, after all, "Well, we are not really very open and consultative. We have proved our point by showing them one monthly account or two monthly accounts. We will put them back in the desk drawer and make sure that no-one else sees them from this point on". That is an unacceptable point of view, Mr Speaker, and I, for one, can indicate that I will not be supporting Mr Berry's motion.
It is clear to me, and I am sure that it is clear to everybody else listening to this debate, that the Minister well and truly sees what is coming over the horizon, and that is a further budget problem, a further budget blow-out. Mr Berry sort of smiles at that. He thinks that is amusing. I do not think he will have that smile on his face when those facts become evident. But the fact of life is that everybody can see that coming. Many people within the health system have warned of that.
The Minister himself has not been prepared to make any guarantee to the Assembly or to the public about the board's ability to keep within the very tight budget he has given it. What is therefore evident, Mr Speaker, is that the Minister is well aware of the possibility of a budget blow-out. It goes beyond that, Mr Speaker. Mr Berry knows that he is facing a budget problem, a very serious budget problem, and he wants to batten down the hatches and prevent members of this Assembly and of the general public knowing the full extent of the problem. That is what it amounts to.
Mr Speaker, I am not prepared to accept that. Health has exhibited many problems in the past. Mr Berry is well aware of those, having been Minister at the time of one of those sets of problems. I am well aware of them, for the same reason. I believe that this Assembly owes it to the community of the ACT to keep tabs on what is happening in the hospital budget and in the health budget generally. It is not that there is any particular onus to be placed on the health budget or any particular onus to be placed on the Board of Health. I believe, Mr Speaker, that what we have here is simply the same measure of accountability that any parliament anywhere in the country would expect of any statutory body such as the Board of Health.
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