Page 3982 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 16 December 1992
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Mrs Carnell: I do not know this bit.
MR BERRY: If you know so much about it, do not ask the question.
Mr De Domenico: But you are in control of your portfolio.
MR BERRY: I am very definitely in control of the portfolio. I told you yesterday that the Medicare agreement is being negotiated currently, and that a full statement on the outcome of the negotiations will be made when that is finalised.
MR DE DOMENICO: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Does the Minister not concede that the fact that the ACT has the lowest number of private hospital beds per 1,000 places us at a disadvantage in comparison to other jurisdictions?
MR BERRY: No - and that is not related to the first question, so it is probably out of order. In any event, I have said that the negotiations will settle where the ACT stands amongst the rest of the country, and Mr De Domenico should be patient. As I said, all of the outcomes will be made public when the negotiations are complete. I am not going to get involved in petty point taking at a critical point of the negotiations with the Commonwealth.
ACTION - Workplace Reform
MR WESTENDE: My question is directed to the Minister for Urban Services. Did the Minister see the article on page 17 of the Canberra Times of Saturday, 12 December, concerning Deane's Buslines? Does the Minister agree that it appears to be possible to run buses with complete cooperation of all staff in a flexible manner, including part-timers and job sharing? Would the Minister further agree that, if some of those methods were adopted by ACTION, we would have a much more flexible, efficient and economic bus system in the ACT?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I thank Mr Westende for his question. Deane's is a very successful private sector bus company operating in Queanbeyan which shows a lot of flexibility and good judgment. I think some of the best judgment they show is that they use the ACTION workshops for major work on their buses rather than contracting out, which seems to be Liberal Party ideology. In the ACT our public bus system is actually contracting in because a private bus line in the neighbouring city is getting its major work done in our workshops.
There is no doubt that ACTION is an area which we have targeted for improvement, and improvement is starting to occur. I, fortunately, just happen to have with me a chart, which I had prepared in large form for the Liberals, which shows the ACTION subsidy and deficit. It is a bit wavy, not unlike the Brindabellas; but it does show a number of key points. Madam Speaker, the first line, which I mark here, shows the line going down. It shows a steady reduction in the ACTION operating deficit during the period of the first Follett administration. That takes it up to the 1989-90 budget. It then takes a dramatic upswing during the period of the Liberal stewardship when the real cost of ACTION was steadily increasing. It then starts to steadily decline over the past two Labor budgets.
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