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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (21 May) . . Page.. 1545 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

the health officials saying to Mrs Carnell, "I am sorry, Minister, but we cannot get another $8m off the health budget", and her saying, "No, no, do it anyway". Now what have we got? A $14.2m health budget blow-out. It was the worst kept secret in the ACT Government Service.

Expenditure by the Department of Health and Community Care exceeded its original appropriation because Mrs Carnell's reform package was always unachievable. She could not even achieve her VMO savings. This miscalculation occurred for two reasons: First, Mrs Carnell's reform agenda was unrealistic to begin with; and, secondly, Mrs Carnell was and is incapable of driving or encouraging or guiding her own reform agenda. Once again, Mrs Carnell thought big, talked big, but could not deliver. It was not as easy as you thought, was it? Mrs Carnell, not only have you failed in your Treasury portfolio but you have failed in your Health portfolio as well. Two out of two is a pretty bad record.

There is one other substantial issue I must address. This issue not only illustrates the developmental and structural weaknesses of the Government's original appropriation, but also has many other short- and long-term implications for the ACT. The health budget will be financed through savings in capital works, among other measures, though these are not really savings. The appropriation will be transferred through shelving, postponing, cancelling - I think that is the word of the day, is it not? - important capital works projects. The total projected underexpenditure for the capital works program is $14.2m; 24 projects have been shelved, reconsidered, delayed. This brings into question the original planning process and expenditure allocated. Since the Government reported to the Planning and Environment Committee on the capital works budget, the Government has reduced capital works by a further $5.4m. In February they told the Assembly committee that the underspending for capital works would be $8.8m, yet in April they told the Estimates Committee that it was going to be $14.1m. By coincidence, between these two dates the Government announced that it had blown its health budget by $14.2m. How fortuitous! What a coincidence! How convenient!

There are, however, much more tangible problems associated with the shelving, reprioritising, rescheduling of capital works expenditure. Capital works, in an economy in the state the ACT economy is in, stimulate employment growth but, more importantly, can act positively on business confidence. They are a sign of activity and growth. In a period when public service employment is coming under intense pressure from those opposite, and especially their Federal counterparts - the Government Mrs Carnell campaigned for in the last election, which is driving the ACT economy into the ground - Canberrans need confidence and jobs. In the long term, capital works spending is an investment in the Territory. The movement of funds between programs and the magnitude of the movement will place a further burden on future capital works appropriations. If these projects, deemed important enough to receive funding from Mrs Carnell in September last year, are not to fall off the agenda, extra funds will need to be added to the 1996-97 program. This is yet another pressure on Mrs Carnell's so-called three-year budget plan. The shift backwards of these projects will also possibly be at the expense of programs previously scheduled for the 1996-97 year. You get the feeling, do you not, that Mrs Carnell is moving the Territory backwards?

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