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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2099 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

It is not in our capacity in this place to get down to the nitty-gritty and examine and understand the portfolio to the point of being satisfied. We just have to live with the expectation that the risk profile is reasonable. I do trust that that is our future.

In relation to superannuation, we are seeing the first contributions out of operations to funding superannuation for a long time, certainly since the advent of the Carnell government. We have seen contributions to that fund from selling or selling down assets, merely changing the nature of our portfolio of assets without necessarily increasing our wealth. I return to my time-worn claim that we ought to do what we can to separate the accounting for the superannuation fund from the operations, because it distorts the bottom line.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Just a moment, Mr Quinlan. Would Mr Osborne and Mr Hargreaves like to have a talk outside? Thank you. Go ahead.

MR QUINLAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am concerned that, if we generally select the recommendations of the select committee on territory superannuation liabilities, which I chaired a couple of years ago, and virtually work in the mode of a sinking fund, it is necessary for the interest received within a sinking fund to remain within a sinking fund to reach the ultimate objective of having the capacity to meet the liability for which the fund is set up.

So it is important that, over time, we quarantine those interest receipts from the money that we feel we have available for expenditure. That to me is just common sense. There is some reference to it, well-written or not, in the estimates report. Again, I recommend that the government take some notice of it. It may not matter for a year or two but, at the end of the day, it will matter in terms of the fund and the process of funding that previously unfunded liability.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Proposed expenditure-part 7-Central Financing Unit, $1,577,000 (capital injection) and $52,635,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $54,212,000.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Proposed expenditure-part 8-Superannuation Unit, $50,000,000 (capital injection) and $33,400,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $83,400,000.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Proposed expenditure-part 9-Health, Housing and Community Care, $395,394,000 (net cost of outputs), $35,026,000 (capital injection) and $14,886,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $445,306,000.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (8.55): I will start my remarks on this line of expenditure with some comments on the Canberra Hospital. The Canberra Hospital is the focus of so much of what constitutes the public contribution to health care in the ACT and is absolutely vital to the well-being of every Canberra citizen.

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