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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1259 ..

MR SPEAKER: We had peace and quiet until you came in, Mr Berry. I suggest that you stop interjecting.

MRS LITTLEWOOD: I sat quietly for two hours listening to you whingeing. How about listening to me, Mr Berry? Individual support packages have been boosted.

Mr Berry: I did not know that peace and quiet was necessary in this place.

MRS LITTLEWOOD: Mr Speaker, I sat politely and quietly for two hours and I would appreciate the same courtesy being extended to me.

MR SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. Continue, Mrs Littlewood.

Mr Berry: You should not be so provocative.

MRS LITTLEWOOD: Mr Berry, I am learning it all from you.

The budget includes extra support for families of children with disabilities, and $11.2m for capital works, which means jobs yet again. The budget provides a range of new initiatives to better meet the priority health needs of the people of the ACT region, within a tight financial framework. The Government is doubling funding available for the waiting list incentives pool, from $1.5m to $3m, as part of an ongoing campaign to reduce the unacceptably long waiting lists we inherited from Labor. Remember that, Mr Berry. The waiting list incentives pool will target unacceptably long waiting times in orthopaedics, urology, paediatrics, general surgery and gynaecology. A particular focus will be on increasing the use of day surgery and improved theatre utilisation. Under Mr Berry's Government, I think that theatre utilisation was down to about three minutes a day, but never mind.

The Government is also putting in place incentives to promote enhanced care in the community. This is one of a number of initiatives identified in the budget designed to establish a clear direction in building up community and home-based services, providing improved quality of care and quality of life. The Government seeks to break down barriers between hospital and community-based services, to focus on the needs of customers and consumers and to coordinate and integrate services to best meet their needs. If the Government is to provide this type of quality comprehensive health and community care system which the people of the ACT rightly expect, then we need to improve partnership and networking between services across the ACT - whether they are public, private or non-government services. This budget provides a big push in that direction.

The priority groups targeted include children, people with a disability and people with a mental dysfunction. Other initiatives include funding of $3.5m for a new cardio-thoracic unit in the Canberra Hospital, with the first patient expected to be treated in July and up to 270 in the first year. Additional funding of $250,000 for dental services to enable an extra 1,000 adults to be treated comes in the wake of the Federal Government cut of $1m to dental services. I noted before that Ms McRae found it somewhat offensive

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