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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 176 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Mrs Carnell sat on these reports, gave no explanation why she stopped issuing quarterly reports, and continually provided information which, on her own admission in this place, was two months out of date before members got hold of it. You get preliminary figures finalised in the next month and then you have to wait another 30 days before you get the information. It is two months out of date by the time you get hold of it. Mr Speaker, there is a different range of figures provided in each one. Mrs Carnell is responsible for providing a full range of information to the Assembly. She has been called upon by way of my motion to do so, and I urge members to support it. It will mean that this Government that promised accountability will be more accountable, and the community will be better informed as to their performance in that touchy area of Health.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care) (6.43): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to speak again.

Leave granted.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, what Mr Berry has now added to the debate is a requirement for a cash-based accounting system in these monthly reports. I think everybody in this place supported the Financial Management Bill, which makes quite clear the reporting that is required and the basis that the whole budget is put together on. As everyone in this Assembly now knows from the fact that we have been through an estimates committee consideration of one of these budgets, looking at how they are put together, we are not even collecting data on the cash basis anymore; we are buying outputs. Everyone, except Mr Berry, would know that that data or that sort of financial information is not available. By the way, what will be available is quarterly output statements from our hospital system, hopefully in the very near future, which will be quarterly reports against the contracts or the outputs agreements that we have with both hospitals. I have to stress again that the financial data that Mr Berry has asked for simply is not collected and is not available. What will be available, which is significantly more useful, I would have thought, to this Assembly, is a quarterly report on the outputs that have been achieved at each hospital; and, most importantly, not just on the number of patients that have been treated but actually on a case weighted basis. We will actually be able to assess the level and the acuity of the patients that we look after as well.

The bottom line here, Mr Speaker, is that I am more than happy to provide public health information because that exists. Nobody has shown an interest in it before, but I am happy to make it available. The reality of the financial management reports is that we will provide them in line with the Financial Management Act. We will provide quarterly reports on the outputs that are achieved at the hospitals, but that is all the data that exists under the new Financial Management Act. Even if the Assembly chose to ask us to produce this information, it simply would not be available. I think we have to understand that there is no benefit, no point, in this Assembly passing a motion asking for information that does not exist and that is contrary to a previous Bill passed by this Assembly, Mr Speaker. I think it is very important that we understand that if we pass any motion in this place it must be achievable; it must be in line with other pieces of legislation that we have passed; and it must be in line with the whole approach that the Government has taken and the Assembly has supported. That means a move to outputs-based reports, a move to contractual arrangements between the hospitals and our Health Department.

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