Page 1061 - Week 04 - Thursday, 1 April 1993
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Direct comparison cannot be made between the two reports because they relate to different accounting entities and have different cut-off dates. Problems of comparison such as this are one of the reasons why the Government has acted to wind up the Health bank account this year. It will be wound up. There is no question about it. I will not stand idly by and see the misleading campaigns run out there in the community by Mrs Carnell and the Liberals, without saying something to correct it.
MRS CARNELL: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Again, Minister, is cash based accounting the basis used? Maybe I should ask the Minister whether he understands what cash based accounting is.
MR BERRY: It has all been explained. The money is drawn down from Treasury and placed in the Health bank account. I might try to explain it to you this way and you might then understand. For example, if you predicted a little way down the track that you had some bills and you had some money in your savings account and you wanted to pay those bills from your cheque account, you would take the money from your savings account and put it into your cheque account, and it might lie there for a couple of weeks before you pay it out. Think about that. It might explain to you what happened.
Ms Follett: I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper.
Unemployment Statistics
MS FOLLETT: On 30 March Mr Stevenson asked me a question about the number of people in the ACT who are registered as unemployed and the number receiving unemployment benefits. I took the latter part of Mr Stevenson's question on notice. Madam Speaker, the answer is that the information is collected by two Commonwealth agencies, the first by the Commonwealth Employment Service and the second by the Department of Social Security. The CES does not publish information concerning the number of persons registered as unemployed. They consider that the labour force survey conducted by the Bureau of Statistics is the relevant source of data concerning employment and unemployment.
The Department of Social Security advises that as at 19 March 1993 its Canberra office records a total of 9,831 persons in receipt of an unemployment benefit. This number includes people living in the ACT as well as in Cooma, Yass and Bombala. I am advised that it would take some time to obtain disaggregated information for ACT residents from the Department of Social Security. They keep regional statistics rather than statistics for the ACT.
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