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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (20 June) . . Page.. 2168 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

within the required time frames. And that is not just one month-it is, with the exception of one person, in those six months.

I have to say that it is good news about category 2 patients as well. We are not where we want to be but we are heading in that direction. As at 30 April, 41 per cent of category 2 patients were what we call long-wait patients. They had waited longer than we had wanted them to-longer than three months. That compares to 54 per cent at January. So they are coming down significantly.

It is the same story for category 3 patients. As at 30 April, 23 per cent of those patients had waited for longer than is clinically desirable, and this is down from 27 per cent as at 31 January.

This is a positive result. It is not where we want to be and we are still working on it. The lists have come down. Each of the categories has improved. This has occurred because of the initiatives we have taken and, more importantly, because of the work that has been put in by the doctors and the nurses at the hospital in order to deliver a better service.

I have to say to you, Mr Speaker, and to Mr Hird in particular, as he asked the question, that this is effective delivery of patient care. What we are interested in doing is improving patient care. This contrasts so markedly with what happened when Mr Berry was the health minister. He started with something in the order of 1,200 or 1,500 patients and over three years later there were 4,567 patients-an extraordinary exponential increase.

Government contracts

MR QUINLAN: My question is directed to the Chief Minister. It follows on from Mr Stanhope's question in relation to the latest Bruce audit report and the claim of lessons learned. I think we have heard that claim a number of times. In light of more recent events, such as the partial sale of Actew on the promise of a power station, which now seems to be a unilateral choice held by AGL in which we have no say, and in light of a contract for a GMC400 car race, where apparently the promoters can demand additional expenditure and the taxpayer has to meet them, do the lessons learned and do the steps that you said were taken include examination of other exposures which seem to be coming up since that time?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Quinlan's question is unspecific about what other exposures he refers to.

Mr Quinlan: I would be turning over every rock I could find if I were you.

MR HUMPHRIES: I am well aware of the fact that many of the things that you characterise as being exposures and disasters and problems do not turn out to be such disasters and problems when closer scrutiny is devoted to those issues.

Mr Stanhope: Like a rock concert?

MR HUMPHRIES: Like, for example, the Lyneham tennis centre. The government has acted very appropriately there to protect the interests of creditors.

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