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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (20 August) . . Page.. 2410 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I wish to touch briefly on the areas of health and education. There was extensive consideration of the expenditure of the $27 million, previously allocated to the free school bus scheme, into education. The committee took evidence from the Independent Education Union, representing non-government teachers, and the Catholic Education Commission, about the extent to which commitments made in the past about the expenditure of that money in the non-government sector had been fulfilled.

Two members of the committee particularly noted comments made by the Catholic Education Commission-the suggestion that there had been some falling away from the commitments made by the government in the election campaign. The Catholic Education Commission quoted the previous education spokesman, who said, "The money will be shared between government and non-government sectors on a needs basis, with $1 million going to the Catholic systemic schools."

It says the commission noted that the government's budget had distributed some $20 million worth of new initiatives to government schools from the purported $27 million available, and just $1 million to Catholic school systems, without waiting for the recommendations of the education inquiry-the Connors inquiry. The inquiry's ability to recommend and have implemented a funding distribution model based on need has been removed by the government, even before public submissions on the inquiry closed. Catholic schools, representing 28 per cent of ACT school students will receive just 5 per cent of the funds allocated in this budget.

Two members of the committee went on to say they felt that the government should honour its pre-election commitment to distribute available funds "between government and non-government schools on a needs basis, to be determined by a comprehensive review of the current schools funding regimes". I will return to that subject, as I am sure other members will, in the course of debate on the budget bills next week.

There are a great many issues in the 65 recommendations. The last thing I want to mention is the question of elective surgery waiting lists. The committee initially asked questions about the waiting lists and sought information on just what was going to happen, with additional expenditure going into the system under this budget-and, indeed, under the second and third appropriations earlier this financial year, what would happen to things such as waiting lists in the public hospital system.

The committee heard that the position at Calvary Hospital was that elective surgery would shut down for a period of 14 weeks during the 2002-03 financial year, due to additional demands being placed on the emergency department. As a result of that, elective surgery waiting lists are expected to increase by 970 cost-weighted separations, resulting in a waiting list by the end of the financial year of approximately 2,000. That is from something in the order of 1,000 at the present time.

The committee asked the minister extensively about what strategy was in place at the Canberra Hospital to cope with the displacement of elective surgery patients from Calvary to Canberra. Officials confirmed the committee's belief that the Canberra Hospital's waiting lists will inevitably rise with displacement of patients from Calvary Hospital.

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