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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 5 Hansard (5 May) . . Page.. 1366 ..

MS CARNELL: There will always be redundancies in any government simply because of the way staff are used and the sort of staff you need. Whether you need them inside or outside the government will always change, regardless. Those nasty salami slicing approaches, that everyone had to lose 2 per cent of staff or 3 per cent of staff, or $5m here or whatever, are certainly gone. That will continue to be the case as long as we are on this side of the house because, Mr Speaker, that is just bad management. Good financial management is about ensuring that redundancies and changes in the way we operate our Public Service are targeted to the areas where we can maintain service delivery, and where we can achieve the maximum benefit for the people of Canberra.

When you look at the approach that we have taken in this budget, that is exactly what has happened. Say the redundancies are in areas of Health, Mr Speaker. It was not so long ago in this place that those opposite, Mr Berry included, were berating this side of the house for the overspending in health. "Shock, horror, you have overspent your budget". Now we are back with a new budget and coming up with approaches that will overcome a lot of that overspending and they are doing it again. "Shock, horror, you are offering redundancies".

Mr Speaker, I make the point that you cannot have it all ways, and those opposite seem to want to, particularly Mr Berry. He wants to be able to get stuck into Mr Moore about the health budget, but at the same time say, "But no, no, no, we won't have any redundancies". Well, I have to tell you, it ain't possible, Mr Speaker. Seventy per cent or so of the health budget, and we will use that as an example, is wages, Mr Speaker. What is the rest of the health budget? Things like pharmaceuticals, surgical supplies, X-rays, and MRIs and pathology. Where does Mr Berry think he is going to save that money and bring the health budget under control? Maybe we will hear tomorrow. We know that now he is saying "no redundancies". Maybe we should stop giving people drugs. Maybe we should stop doing X-rays. Maybe we should stop pathology. Maybe we should stop surgical supplies. Well, we do not think that is very sensible, Mr Speaker, and nor do our patients. The approach that we have taken is a very targeted approach to redundancies that will maintain service delivery and give the people of Canberra value for money.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. If things are so rosy, why do another 450 people have to lose their jobs when, according to your budget statements so far, what has happened is that you have got more money from the Commonwealth, more money from taxes, and you have borrowed another $300m via ACTEW and kept the superannuation that you have collected from agencies?

MS CARNELL: I despair for the other side of the house. Mr Speaker, things are looking good in the ACT, but we have still got a $150m operating loss this year. What we have put on the table is a plan to reduce that operating loss to $63m next year and to go into the black the year after. Now, Mr Speaker, I have to tell you that that does not just happen. It does not happen without very hard decisions. It seems Mr Berry believes that if the economy is looking all right governments can do nothing and everything will just work out. Well, that is what they tried last time, Mr Speaker, and they ended up with a $344m operating loss that we ended up with, and no money in the Central Financing Unit.

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