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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Tuesday, 22 June 2004) . . Page.. 2276 ..

that that should be done as a matter urgency and I think we need considerably more police than the government has provided for in its budget. We also made a recommendation in relation to the new policing agreement.

In terms of health—I will close on this topic—there were considerable problems in relation to RILU. We had great concerns about the existing RILU service being moved to ward 12B. We were very concerned that providing rehabilitation in a hospital setting may prolong or create a sickness syndrome, that moving individuals into the community too early may affect their long-term rehabilitation outcomes, and that rehabilitation may be compromised in an environment that does not mimic homelike conditions, with steps, narrow corridors, and kitchen and laundry facilities.

The committee made a number of recommendations in that regard. We recommended that Minister for Health ensure that any proposed changes to RILU will not compromise outcomes for the rehabilitation of patients in any way and that, if that cannot be done, the minister not proceed with the changes. The committee also recommended that he not proceed with the proposed changes to the rehabilitation and independent living unit without informing the Assembly. I understand that Mr Hargreaves and Ms MacDonald disagreed with those two recommendations, but we think it is crucially important that RILU not be changed. We also recommended that the government review the overtime performed by nurses in ACT hospitals. There were a number of questions and there are some real concerns in the nursing community in relation to that.

In relation to the sale of tobacco to minors, Mrs Dunne and I were concerned about entrapment and the infringement of rights and would prefer that the government consider the use of other ways of catching people who are selling tobacco to underage people. Mr Speaker, I conclude with that and thank members for their attention.

MS MacDONALD (11.36): Mr Speaker, I will attempt to be brief. I start by saying that this is the third estimates process that I have been through and I found it to be probably the most pleasant so far. I would like to thank the chair of the committee, Mr Stefaniak, for having a fairly easygoing attitude to the process. We were there to do a job and did not need to make it unnecessarily cumbersome or difficult. I commend Mr Stefaniak for that.

There were very few areas in which Mr Hargreaves and I had issues with the final report. I will speak to those, except for the issue of the Vardon report—the Territory as parent report—that came down and the government’s response to it. I will merely say that my argument was that reference to that report should not have been included in the estimates committee’s report because I do not believe that it relates to the budget estimates. Obviously, a number of people do not agree with me on that point.

The first issue that I want to raise, Mr Speaker, relates to recommendation 13 and the preceding paragraph, 5.15, about the home buyers concession scheme. I did argue the point in the committee about the wording of that paragraph and it was changed slightly, I am reasonably pleased to say. The report says:

…the Committee is of the opinion that such schemes in future should be implemented immediately to avoid a scenario such as a slump in the housing market.

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