Page 1060 - Week 04 - Thursday, 1 April 1993
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Health Budget
MRS CARNELL: My question is to the Minister for Health. On Tuesday I asked the Minister to explain the difference of $6m between the Health financial report to 31 December 1992 and the Treasurer's December quarterly financial statement. The Treasurer, on behalf of the Minister, who seemed incapable of replying at the time, explained the difference in the figures in terms of draw-downs to provide for advance payments. Regardless of whether the funds were drawn down in December for prepayments, unless the funds were actually expended in December they would not have been recorded in a cash based account as used by both Treasury and Health. The figures for expenditure to the end of December, therefore, should have been the same. The Minister must explain what the difference is. Are the Health figures wrong, the Treasury figures wrong - noting that the Treasury reports financial information supplied by Health - or is cash accounting not the basis being used by both Treasury and Health as stated?
MR BERRY: This is just a repeat of a question. The question has been fully answered, Madam Speaker, and Mrs Carnell has been caught out for misleading the community. She has been caught out on a big one. It was fully explained to Mrs Carnell, on the day that this was raised, why the differences were there. It was about figures which were drawn down for Health and not expended in the first week of January.
Mr Kaine: If it was not expended, how does it figure in the cash accounts as being spent?
MR BERRY: Wait. That involved additional pay over the Christmas-New Year period, prepayment of salaries and a payment of leave loading - it was all explained to her - additional funding-down to compensate for outstanding reimbursements from other agencies, the prepayment of third quarter grants to the non-government sector, the prepayment of Calvary Hospital rent for January. Do not let us be misled by this. Mrs Carnell went out and said that there is a $10m blow-out in Health for the six months ending December, and in saying that she misled the community.
Nobody in this Government knows more than I do that the health system is under a great deal of strain, because my office continually has to deal with the issues concerning it. It does no good for the health system for the likes of the Liberals opposite to campaign against the public health system incessantly. Yes, Madam Speaker, the health system in the ACT is under stress. There is no question about that. It is treating more people than was predicted and it costs more. There is no question about that. We have known that at the end of this financial year we will have spent more than was budgeted for a year previously.
Mr Kaine: By about $10m at least.
MR BERRY: It was already about $4m around Christmas, and it will be more than that by the end of this year. It has never been any secret, as I explained to you. The Treasurer's December quarter financial statements indicate payments from the Consolidated Fund to Health's bank account, whereas Health's financial performance report relates to expenditure from the Health bank account. Is that understood? Payments from the Consolidated Fund included funds required by Health for payment of accounts due in January 1993. Furthermore, the Health December financial performance report presents the expenditure from Health's bank account.
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