Page 2742 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 1993
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Chapter 4 refers to the budget supplementation in relation to Health, and I would like to make a few points in that area. As we know, ACT Health is like every other area of government in that it can seek supplementation. It is not unique. I draw members' attention to chapter 4, where the evidence for this is very clearly set out. Paragraph 4.5 states:
The Committee is concerned that, despite the improvements that have occurred, the Health organisation remains unable to control its expenditure to the limits of the annual appropriation.
That statement should be considered in concert with the following paragraphs and not in isolation. Read in isolation, I think it can be misleading in condemnation of a situation that I do not think is what that paragraph is implying.
Evidence to the committee outlined changes in the composition of the health budget for the coming year in that factors which can now be estimated and included in the appropriation, such as activity levels and patient mix, will mean that with their possible inclusion they will no longer be reliant on that supplementation system. That is exactly the point Mr Kaine was making a moment ago, and I think we need to look at that in an historical fashion. Rather than saying that it has never been done and it should be, it is much better to say that it has not been done in the past because they were unable to do it, but now that they can do it they are doing it. Subsequent to that, we will definitely see an improvement and a change in the presentation of the health budget in that area. We need to very carefully consider that as a whole. I draw members' attention to the conclusion in paragraph 5.6, at the end of the report, which puts that into context with a lot more clarity.
It is very important that this report be used to reflect accurately on the gains made by ACT Health in the last two to three years in addressing what was, by everybody's admission, an unsatisfactory financial management position and bringing about one that is far more efficient and far more accountable. ACT Health, as we know, has sometimes in the past been treated as a bit of a political football, but recognition of the ground gained must be made. Of course more can be done, more can always be done everywhere, and I am sure that in the case of ACT Health it will be. On the evidence before the committee, I have no reason to doubt that the attitude of the officials giving evidence before the committee, which I commend very highly, will continue. That attitude was very commendable. They were in some cases brought into a job that would not have been a job to envy. They had a very difficult set of problems to address, and the detail in which the officials outlined to the committee the steps that have been taken I personally appreciated. It put the whole situation in relation to the financial management within the Department of Health into a context that I could understand and grasp, and I could therefore make what I believe was a measured judgment on the performance since those reports that I referred to earlier.
I would like to thank my fellow committee members, the committee secretary, Karin Malmberg, and those officials who gave so much of their time to very painstakingly outline to the committee the situation facing the financial management of Health. I commend the report, but I commend the whole of the report and not the bits of it that some people may prefer to pluck out and misread or misquote out of context.
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