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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4098 ..

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care) (1.01 am): I find it absolutely remarkable that, when we could be talking about a budget of $322m, Mr Berry talks about my pharmacy. Madam Deputy Speaker, my pharmacy is a very nice little pharmacy, but I tell you what: $322m makes it pale into insignificance. Again I make the point that this is a major budget. This budget is what sets the agenda for this city over the next 12 months. Mr Berry wants to speak about station wagons, meal allowances and my pharmacy.

Mr De Domenico: And goggles.

MRS CARNELL: And goggles, not about the issues that make a difference. One of the things that my health officials and I were most surprised about in the Estimates Committee hearings - I am sure, Madam Deputy Speaker, that when you were chair of that committee you also were surprised - was that we did seem to spend most of the time that we had for consideration of the estimates speaking about my pharmacy and about the methadone program. The methadone program is a very important program, but it is an extremely small amount in the health budget. That was a significant part of the health estimates. Mr Speaker, it does show an unfortunate part of Mr Berry's personality that he has a large amount of trouble concentrating on the issue at hand, and that is a budget of $322m.

Our budget this year has a large number of new initiatives of which I am very proud. We have cardio-thoracic surgery in this budget. We will have surgery in June or July next year. Significant amounts of money are being spent on training staff and on the purchase of equipment. I think it is $2.7m. We are spending $1.5m on waiting list reduction. Already we have managed to reduce the waiting list by 1,068 since we came to government - a reduction of 23 per cent. That is a pretty good effort by the people who work in our hospital system. In post-natal care, there is $3m for the construction of the new residential facility for mums and babies and two new family care cottages. Healthpact is getting $3.1m and the community midwife program $178,000. We have already heard about the home and community care program, which is to get an extra $800,000. There is the completion of the hospital redevelopment, costing $12m. We have the COOOL project, as we have already heard, which I think is a very exciting program; the renal dialysis unit, $1m; hospital in the home; hepatitis C; the Canberra Clinical School; the extra $350,000 for mental health; and, of course, the upgrade of the methadone program from 350 to 400 people.

Those are just some of the issues that are in this budget; so there is a lot to debate, Mr Speaker, but it seems that the Opposition health spokesperson wants to speak about something that is not even in the budget - my pharmacy. I find that fairly unusual, Mr Speaker; but, equally, we are all getting quite used to it around here now. This is a good health budget. It is certainly a budget that must be brought in on track. Those who have had time to look at the first three months' report know that health is on budget at this stage, which, I must admit, is a pretty impressive exercise, taking into account that we are significantly up again in admissions.

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