Page 3853 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 15 December 1992
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Tuesday, 15 December 1992
_________________________
MADAM SPEAKER (Ms McRae) took the chair at 2.30 pm and read the prayer.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Health Budget
MR KAINE: I would like to address a question to the Minister for Health, Mr Berry. I think the Minister may be aware that the costs to the community of the Medicare system in Australia are growing each year, while at the same time public hospitals have increasing waiting lists. I believe that he should also be aware that private health insurers contribute 11 per cent of the total cost of health in Australia, while the Medicare levy contributes only 8 per cent, and if the level of private health insurance continues to decline at current rates the Medicare levy will have to double - I repeat "double" - to maintain current health spending. Given those facts, just what does the Minister intend to do to ensure the maintenance of health spending at an appropriate level in the ACT?
MR BERRY: Mr Kaine claims that he has facts. I am afraid that the Liberals' record on the production of facts when it comes to complaints about the health system here is not good. Mrs Carnell is a classic example of that.
Mr Kaine: We will match our record against yours any day, Minister.
MR BERRY: I can. It is pretty easy to do, now that you interject to say, in addition to your earlier question, "We will match our record against yours". I will match it. No unapproved spending. When it comes to the provision of health services, I think the Labor governments both at State level and at Federal level are good. As I have said, we intend to support the principles of Medicare.
Of course, whether the private sector is able to attract people into private health insurance is a matter for it, not something that I can control. Neither can I control people walking away from private insurance. At the end of the day the reason they do that is that they are more attracted to the services which are provided in the public sector. Madam Speaker, the issue for people to consider is whether they want to use private facilities and private insurance or whether they want to use the public sector. Clearly, they do not want to use the private sector, and they are walking away from it. Yes, I suspect that the financial situation of many would have something to do with that. It is also fairly natural to surmise that there will be an increased burden on the public sector as a result.
With Medicare, we are able to deal with this to one degree or another. For example, the Commonwealth made a significant contribution to reducing waiting lists in this year's budget, and the ACT, in negotiations with the Commonwealth, will attract some of that funding. At the same time, we have to manage our health system in a different way from that in which it has been
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