Page 3196 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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MR KAINE: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. On the assumption that the Commonwealth does not bother to ask us what we think, and that is not inconceivable, how does the Minister see that he would get over the proposition that that would totally hand all aspects of planning back to the Commonwealth?
MR WOOD: No, I do not think that is the case. The Federal Minister has not been overly enthusiastic about the proposal and, Mr Kaine, any proposal for world heritage listing affecting the ACT would have to come from the ACT Government. Very clearly, that is the case.
Health Budget
MS ELLIS: My question is directed to the Deputy Chief Minister in his capacity as Minister for Health. Yesterday the Opposition claimed an $8m blow-out in the health budget. What is the real position on Health's budget for the year to date?
Mr Kaine: No; we asked questions about it.
Mrs Carnell: We did not claim anything.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
MR BERRY: They did not claim anything, the Libs claim. Health, $8m over budget, Libs. That is the first furphy. The second furphy is: $8m budget blow-out. We again got into this position of discussing the different governments' attitudes to the public hospitals. I have here the goods on the Liberals. I have the goods; "ACT Division of the Liberal Party - Plans for the ACT Public Hospital System". I have them; I have your plans. There they are.
Mr Kaine: Would you like to table it, because it is news to me?
MR BERRY: I would love to table it. In fact, I have prepared a copy for each one of the Liberals. There is a copy for each one of the Liberals, Madam Speaker. For the record may I say that there is not a darned thing on it.
Mr Humphries: What have you been smoking, Wayne?
MR BERRY: Careful, Gary, that goes close; that is crook. As the board chairman said in the quarterly report, activity levels have trended upward at this time of the year in the past. That certainly happened last year under Labor, but we were able to measure that. Before that we could not discover what was going on. Mr Humphries was advised of difficulties in the health system. He did not want to know; he did not want to put any resources into finding out what was wrong. Mr Kaine did not want to know about it because Mr Humphries was not in a position to tell them.
There is at this time of the year a very short tradition, that is measurable under Labor, of a trending upwards of activity levels. If it were the case that those activity levels were to trend upwards for an entire financial year, then of course you would have difficulties with budgets.
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