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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 2814 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Clearly, Mr Speaker, Mr Connolly acknowledges that he knows it was not the management committee of the Department of Health. Will he also acknowledge that that comment is only a recommendation of that particular sub-unit of the department? Will he acknowledge that fact and acknowledge that it does not of itself constitute a decision for implementation? Will he acknowledge that? No, I do not think he will. You can interject if you like.

Mr Connolly: I will. I will interject by pointing out that the document shows that - - -

MR HUMPHRIES: You have to stand up to interject.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Sit down.

Mr Connolly: The document shows that the savings are already projected in the budget which you have tabled.

MR SPEAKER: Sit down. You are out of order.

Mr Connolly: Read that bottom line.

MR SPEAKER: And do stop shouting.

Mr Connolly: "Savings have already been projected in the Budget". You are responsible for this.

MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Humphries, you have the call.

MR HUMPHRIES: It is the task of anybody on any of these working parties within the Department of Health to be able to find processes to make those savings projected in the budget brought down by the Chief Minister. That is their job, and they do it by producing recommendations. If that committee had recommended that we bury a large number of patients in a hole somewhere, I can assure you that that would not have been accepted by the Government. Indeed, all the recommendations in that process are just that - recommendations.

If those opposite are too petty to admit that they have misread a document they have waved around and shouted about from the rooftops - and from below the roof at the same time - the veracity of which they have shouted to the chamber, that is just too bad for them. The fact of the matter is that the approach of this Government is to allow consultation on these sorts of issues and discussion within the administrative framework of our Government. We do not hand down all decisions and all wisdom from the Olympian heights of the second floor of the Assembly building. We expect people within our public service - we not only ask, we expect - to exercise judgment and discretion and to develop ideas, which in turn can characterise the way in which we implement decisions made within the broad framework of the budget. I support that process. It is a process that is strong and vital and indicates a public service that is doing its job.

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