Page 3198 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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Mr Humphries: How much are you over now?
MR BERRY: We have trended upward. As I said - - -
Mr Humphries: By how much? Like that or like that or like that?
MR BERRY: I will tell you. It was about 3 per cent. It was about - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry has the floor.
MR BERRY: It was about 3 per cent - - -
Mr Humphries: About 3 per cent.
MR BERRY: No, no; hang on a minute. It was about 3 per cent at this time last year and it is a little higher than that right now, but the board has in place a program to address the issue of funding. It has to live within budget. It has a smaller budget this year and it will have to pursue efficiencies within the hospital system to ensure that it comes in on budget. Our insistence to the board has always been that it must come in on budget.
We have a management strategy - something that the Liberals would not understand and something that obviously puzzles them very much. We have a strategy to deal with it. At the end of this year we will demonstrate to them again that we are able to manage our budget month by month, quarter by quarter. At the end of the year we will be able to demonstrate to them that we have managed the hospital budget; that we have been able to provide services to the community and that we have retained our commitment to a public hospital system.
In summary, Madam Speaker, again Labor has shown that it is prepared to back its strategy for good hospital management. It is prepared to work towards living within budget.
Mr Humphries: With what? Rhetoric?
MR BERRY: Mr Humphries says "Rhetoric". He only has to have a look at last year's performance - we lived within budget - and compare it to his own, which was completely uncontrollable. So, there we have it, Madam Speaker; a success story which is to be repeated by an administration which is disciplined and is prepared to address its financial responsibilities in an orderly fashion. I have to say again - I repeat it and emphasise it - that this is a very difficult year for Health because it is a very tight budget. They have less money. As a result, the Board of Health will have to examine all of the efficiencies that it can, to ensure that the budget is lived within. Of course, those sentiments are echoed by Mr Service.
Just a few minutes before we sat this afternoon I was visited by Mrs Carnell and Mr Moore in relation to an undertaking that I gave yesterday about the provision of figures. There are no secrets in Health.
Mr Humphries: That is garbage, Wayne. That is utter garbage.
MR BERRY: Now, hang on. You will be able - - -
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