Page 2304 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Again, wrong. We are on to the second health plan. I know that in the adjournment Mrs Burke took the opportunity to read out a list of at least 12 other plans that sit within health. There are hundreds of them, Mrs Burke—hundreds. I do not know how reading out 12 of the hundreds that exist substantiates your claim—
Mrs Burke: I thought you said there were only two. You said there were only two.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Burke!
MS GALLAGHER: that there are six or seven health reform plans. There are two health reform plans. You say there are six or seven; then you cite 12. I do not think you are making your argument substantiated there.
Mrs Burke: I am making it very substantiated.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Burke!
MS GALLAGHER: The claims continue: “The ACT spends more”—
MR SPEAKER: Minister, direct your comments through the chair, please.
MS GALLAGHER: The media release states:
The ACT spends more per capita on overall management; the cost of caring for patients is 24 per cent above the national average …
Not true. Again, read the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, which shows that it is now 14 per cent; it came down 10 per cent in one year following the government’s plans to reduce our costs around health. The media release continues:
… we have less beds per capita …
There is the one truth in the media release—one truth. We know that beds were reduced by 114 during the period of the previous government. We are the only jurisdiction—this is what Mrs Burke does not go and say—that is actually increasing beds, to deal with the cuts that were suffered between 1996 and 2001, when 20 per cent of our bed capacity within ACT public hospitals was cut. So there was one truth there. The media release continues:
Our waiting lists are up by about one third despite all the so-called reforms or plans.
Wrong. Of course, she does not table any of the figures to support that. Wrong. The media release continues:
What we have seen under this Government is a 25 per cent increase in administrative staff.
Wrong. Again, she cannot table any figures to support that. I have figures in front of me that show that the administrative workforce in ACT Health has reduced from
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .