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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2796 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Part 6 is the Department of Treasury. There were claims that Treasury is understaffed, is under-resourced and lacks technical expertise. If that is so, I hope it is addressed by this budget and through the coming year by the Treasurer's office. Treasury, at the heart of any budget, at the heart of any government, makes available the funds that allow us to get on with delivering the services the people of Canberra need.

Part 9, InTACT, is curious. Major upgrades have to be done. Can InTACT live within the budget that has been allocated to it? It is almost an immutable fact that major IT projects will blow out. I hope InTACT's budget gives it the capacity to deliver the electronic side of Canberra that is so essential, particularly access to government. InTACT gives the public service and us in this place a secure environment and an appropriate environment in which to conduct our business.

Part 10 is the Superannuation Unit. I saw something in the government's response to the Estimates Committee report about accepting the standard for the reporting of superannuation. That is important.

Part 11 is the Department of Health and Community Care. Under Health and Community Care are the fundamental services the government made such a noise about in the lead-up to the election, when they made the simplistic promise that a cash injection would fix everything. The performance of the part-time Health Minister in the Estimates Committee shows that he does not have a single idea on how to run the health portfolio.

We have made it quite clear we welcome the additional funding that has gone into health. That additional funding was available because we left the budget in surplus. The $344 million operating loss that we were left made things incredibly difficult for us as a government in the first five years, and we did not have the luxury of large amounts of funds to dispense. But this government came into government with a budget in surplus.

Let me be quite clear. The additional funds that have gone into health are welcome. But those additional funds have seen reductions in service. One of the core commitments the Labor Party made was that they would get better value for our health dollar. I am happy to hear a different explanation, but better value means providing more with the same amount of money. We are not seeing that.

The fact that Calvary Hospital will close its public wards to elective surgery for 14 weeks is not more service or better value for money. The fact that the waiting list will blow out is not better value for money. Rationing of access to accident and emergency and the inability of the government to answer how they will deal with that are not better value for money. The fact that two aged respite day care services shut is not better value for money. And so it goes on. The 8 per cent cut in access to mental health services at Calvary Hospital is not better value for money.

There is a real cloud over the Health and Community Care budget. There is a real cloud over our part-time Health Minister and his ability to deliver just the current level of services, let alone new services and additional services, to the people of Canberra. Outpatient services will be reduced from something like 210,350 to 202,000.

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