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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 5 Hansard (5 May) . . Page.. 1358 ..

Mr Stanhope: So you are only $40m out.

MS CARNELL: Only $40m. So we are getting there. Mr Stanhope has now admitted he is wrong, Mr Speaker; but we will take the next step on this, Mr Stanhope. Mr Speaker, did those opposite ever expect that last year we had actually plugged an increase in Commonwealth funding into our bottom line? Of course not, Mr Speaker, because that would mean understanding basic budget documentation. Now, how much money did we plug into the budget? I understand why those opposite are talking because they should be extraordinarily embarrassed, Mr Speaker.

Mr Stanhope: No, not a bit embarrassed. Where is the $16m from Medicare funding, Mr Moore?

Mr Moore: He is taking advice from his treasurer.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Just a moment. The Chief Minister is answering the question. I would ask both sides of the house to be quiet.

MS CARNELL: It appears that Mr Stanhope would now like me to answer where the money from Medicare is, because he found the first question did not work. Mr Speaker, the amount of money that was plugged into the bottom line of last year's budget for increases in government funding was about $20m. That means that we got $57.5m in general government funding. We had already plugged $20m in. So that means that there is about $37m over and above what we had plugged into the budget. That is not exactly $84m, Mr Stanhope. That is pretty basic budget understanding. Next time Mr Quinlan gives you a question, I would ask a few more questions on it, Mr Stanhope, otherwise you will get very embarrassed.

Now, Mr Speaker, the $37m in extra money we have got, where has that gone? Well, I have to say we do have an operating loss that - wait for this - went from $90m to $63.5m; basically to $63m. But, as well as that, in this budget there are a lot of budget pressures that were not anticipated last year. I know it is hard for Mr Stanhope or Mr Quinlan to understand those things. It is going to be very difficult for them to bring down a budget if they do not understand those things. Quite significant extra financial pressures exist in Health. In fact, we have actually debated that in this house, so it is hard to believe they did not know they existed, Mr Speaker.

Mr Stanhope: A 21 per cent increase in the waiting list. That pressure.

MS CARNELL: I know you would rather not have me answer this question, Mr Stanhope, because you are very, very, very silly. As well as that, of course, there is the extra cost of prisoners in the gaol system in New South Wales. There are the quite significant extra costs that have had to be plugged into the budget for increased police salaries, agreed to with the Federal Government, not with us. The list goes on. Right across government there are significant pressures, as there are every year, on the budget that were not actually in last year's budget.

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