Page 3302 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 12 October 1993
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MR BERRY: Yes, Mrs Carnell mostly asks us to spend more and make it more expensive, or to supply more services.
Ms Follett: All it takes is money.
MR BERRY: All it needs is money. I have heard that one. That was a good one, Kate. I saw those figures. They were taken over a six months period, so you would have to be very cautious - - -
Mrs Carnell: Where did they get the figures from?
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry is trying to answer the question.
MR BERRY: Those figures were drawn from a six months survey. I would be very cautious about those figures. I do not think they are over a long enough period. The people who did the survey expressed caution about using the figures that they had provided - - -
Mr De Domenico: Whose shoulder were they looking over?
MR BERRY: Would you wait? That is another question. They expressed caution about using the figures that they provided in their survey for interstate comparison purposes. They also expressed caution about the quality of the information collected because it is the first time they have been collected.
Mrs Carnell: We are not comparing them with interstate, just with the national average.
MR BERRY: You are. How do you think you get a national average if you do not have interstates? Gee, it is taking some time. I think you have to be very cautious about those figures. The people that pulled them together have expressed that view as well. The Grants Commission's 1991-92 figures, as I recall, said that we were overfunded to the level of 4.9 per cent. I would have to say that if you compare the figures there is a great big gap; and it is not explained, except by the fact that the people who collected the figures in that survey to which Mr De Domenico referred said themselves that you ought to be cautious about them because they are not sure about the quality of the data. They also said that you ought to be very cautious about comparing them with other interstate figures, which you have chosen to do.
MR DE DOMENICO: I ask a supplementary question. Is there a timeframe, Minister, for reducing the cost of the ACT public health system in line with national averages? Do you have a timeframe?
MR BERRY: If I were in opposition it would be yesterday, but in government we have to be realistic. Restructuring the hospital system, as Mr Humphries might recall, if he has not lost his memory, is a difficult issue. This Government has given a commitment to restructuring our health system. I think I demonstrated part of that restructuring - nearly all of it, in fact - in answering the earlier question which I answered here today. I demonstrated how much better health is doing, how many more people we are treating, and so on and so forth.
Mr Humphries: There are more people on the waiting lists, fewer beds, the health budget blows out - - -
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