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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (9 April) . . Page.. 740 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

putting at risk any of its revenue, particularly when it has a Health Minister like Mrs Carnell at the helm. Have a look at the disastrous performance in last year's budget, which was overspent by $22.3m. Why would you put at risk valuable revenue which is needed for health services here in the ACT? The Bill I have introduced will fix this mistake and settle the matter forever.

We had determinations made which were invalid. People accept mistakes. Mind you, we have grown to accept a myriad of mistakes from this Government. You have only to look at the history of this Government and what has happened to this Territory since the Carnell Government came to power. The Territory is now in recession. The health budget has been mismanaged repeatedly, with mistakes left, right and centre. You become a little immune to mistakes when you are dealing with a government like the Carnell Government. I suppose that we can accept the mistake. What we would like to see is somebody who has the courage to come out and say, "Oops, we have made a little mistake. Will you help us fix it?". The Labor Party is always happy to help the Liberals patch up their mistakes, but we are not prepared to go quiet on it. Once you have made the mistake, it is better to fix it up properly than to try to patch it up in a hurried way and in a way that risks millions of dollars.

In the absence of any indication that the Government would take the responsible position I have advocated, I have had a Bill drafted. We said that we would support a Bill to patch up these retrospective mistakes if the Government brought it forward, but I think they have made it clear that they are not going to do that. We will not support a Minister being able to make retrospective determinations, because it is known to be in contravention of the relevant legislation, which I referred to earlier in my speech. The Government ought to have responded by introducing a Bill immediately to repair the damage. That was the appropriate thing to do; but they did not do it, so I have done it for them.

The problem created by the Chief Minister has to be fixed. There are millions of dollars worth of revenue at stake; but, most importantly, it is necessary to make sure that the administration of the Territory is not of a risky nature, and that is the nature of Mrs Carnell's entrenched position and intransigence over this particular issue. We saw millions of dollars worth of revenue lost in the health budget last year, and we do not want to see any more lost. Health cannot afford it. It is bleeding to death under Mrs Carnell, with $22.3m overspent in one year. What outrageous mismanagement of the most important portfolio in the ACT! Nobody in the history of self-government would be more entitled to the championship belt in terms of loss of budget control than Mrs Carnell.

Today I am introducing the Bill, and I will also be seeking leave to withdraw my disallowance motion so that, once and for all, we can remove any doubt about determinations Nos 227 and 240 and correct the mistakes of determinations Nos 106 and 136. Mr Speaker, I commend the Bill to the house.

Debate (on motion by Mr Kaine) adjourned.

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