Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 166 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Of course, there is always the budget; the $14.2m required 12 months ago; the $38.6m extra pumped into last year's budget, that massive budget blow-out, the biggest budget blow-out ever that has been built into health budgets for future generations to pay for. She could not make the promised savings herself. Mrs Carnell was the one that promised to save $10m in each year of her three-year term. What do we get? We are $22.3m down the first year; there is $38.6m extra pumped into this year's budget - all for future generations to worry about - to make sure that Mrs Carnell's image looks pearly white out there. This is about buying her way out of trouble with somebody else's money. Of course, the extra money pumped into the health budget has a flow-on effect on other areas of the budget, but Mrs Carnell has shown she does not care about that.

Other areas of the budget have been cut to bail out the Chief Minister in Health. Mr De Domenico, when he was here, had to suffer because most of the cuts had to come from his portfolio. But Mrs Carnell did not seem to care about his image. Her indifference to Mr De Domenico's image has been shown by the absence of any speech in response to Mr De Domenico's departure. In the ACT, which is reeling under the policies of two Liberal governments, we cannot afford to lose job opportunities in the capital works program because Mrs Carnell cannot manage her health budget. We were promised open, accountable government, but we have seen none of that. Instead, we have seen no figures; we have seen arrogance; we have seen no financial statements for Health; and all you ever see is a tirade of abuse of anybody who dares to question this Chief Minister. Then there are the sackings in the community groups. Anybody who questions this Chief Minister is in deep trouble.

We need these figures and we need them today. That is why the motion requires that the past quarterly figures - there is never a mention of quarterly figures by Mrs Carnell - and monthly figures be provided today. We need to ensure that the figures are made available to members as they become available in the future.

Mr Humphries: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Can Mr Berry explain to us why he needs quarterly reports if he is getting monthly reports each month? Is not a monthly report just one-third of a quarterly report?

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, we have not had a quarterly report since last June to incorporate all of the information that has been provided in the past in relation to those matters.

In requiring the Government to produce those figures, I would like to set some guidelines for what is required in the financial figures for Health. Here are some suggestions for you. Just have a little listen. These are the guidelines:

... financial reports should present figures for the following expenditure and revenue categories: Wages and salaries, superannuation, accommodation, grants, operating expenditure, repairs and maintenance, other expenditure, in-patient fees, non-in-patient fees, revenue from meals and accommodation and, of course, other receipts.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .