Page 1881 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 14 June 1994
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The health portfolio will receive $272m in 1994-95, which is an increase over the 1993-94 funding and recognises the many pressures on the health budget. It will allow Health management to implement the necessary changes to financial control and to implement the cost-efficiency strategies. With the financial imperatives facing the health program, we have deferred consideration of funding for the cardio-thoracic unit at Woden Valley Hospital until we are confident that it can be introduced without compromising the financial management of the hospital.
We have, however, addressed important areas of pressing health needs. Half a million dollars will be provided to enable Woden Valley Hospital to carry out bone marrow transplants. A cancer registry will be established, at a cost of $90,000, to permit analysis and study of the incidence of cancer in the Territory, and funding of $1.7m will be made available for the continuation of the breast cancer screening program. We will provide $100,000 to establish proclaimed places to cater for temporarily intoxicated people. The acute pain management service at Woden Valley Hospital will receive $200,000 to continue its operations, and antenatal clinics will be expanded at Woden Valley and Calvary hospitals with funding of $220,000.
The budget also provides $125,000 to set up a multidisciplinary psychiatric liaison team at Calvary Public Hospital for assessing and planning the discharge of patients. This initiative supports the conclusions of the Social Policy Committee of the Legislative Assembly. Funding will also be provided for the operation of a hospice. We are giving consideration to the best model for managing this new service. The Government will ensure that its operations will not impact on the existing beds available in the public health system. The Minister for Health intends, during 1994-95, to continue to improve the community's access to essential health services.
Last year we established a Community Safety Committee and released a draft strategy. We will be building on that initiative in 1994-95 by providing further funding for the community safety strategy. A unit will be set up to provide support and research assistance to the committee. Funds will also be earmarked for initiatives proposed by the community and for ways of reducing crime through better urban design. The budget will make funds available to allow duty solicitors to be available at police stations. The former Quamby Juvenile Justice Centre will be refurbished as a periodic detention centre. This will provide a new sentencing option where offenders can be detained without being sent outside the ACT.
Madam Speaker, the budget incorporates benefits derived from savings and efficiency measures put in place in earlier years. For example, this is the third year of the industrial agreements in ACTION which will secure the planned savings of $10m announced in 1992. ACTION's bus fleet has been greatly modernised in recent years. In the light of this progress, the bus replacement program is being reviewed to ensure that it is put on the most secure economic basis. The 2 per cent per annum efficiency dividend is in its third year. Further savings of over $5m in 1994-95 will be realised. Future efficiency measures will be pursued within the enterprise bargaining framework and will contribute to the funding of productivity pay increases negotiated as part of enterprise bargaining agreements. To assist in the implementation of the various efficiency measures, including continuing restructuring initiatives, funding for voluntary redundancies is continued in this budget at the level of $17m.
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