Page 2450 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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2003. The 459 people waiting longer than one year at the end of May 2011 are 46 per cent below the 848 reported just 12 months ago. And we will see further solid improvements in waiting list numbers over the next 12 months.
The government is looking to secure the future of the ACT health system well beyond individual government and election terms, and we have made a huge commitment to the future development of our health system. In the 2008-09 budget, $300 million was committed over four years for implementation of the health infrastructure redevelopment program. Many projects are already complete and many are underway.
This shows that my leadership is not about getting through the next election. It is about ensuring that our community will have access to the services they need well into the future.
We are also demonstrating our leadership and capability in delivering on our parliamentary agreement with the Greens. In total there were 55 policy commitments and 44 commitments on parliamentary reform agreed to on 31 October 2008. I am pleased to say that over 40 of these items are completed, and a great many more are well on their way to completion.
Leadership is also about working with our partners in this place to achieve positive change for our community. The government is very committed to doing just that.
This government also has an excellent record of leadership in financial management. Our economy is consistently reported as the best in the nation. And although I think—
Mr Smyth: By default, I think.
MS GALLAGHER: I knew Mr Smyth just could not let that one go. It must irk you every time you open the newspaper with your rice bubbles in front of you and you see that headline—yet again, third time in a row, ACT number one. It must just make you want to pack up your newspaper and your rice bubbles and head off.
We took our response to the global financial crisis very seriously. We built a reasonable buffer in our budget against fiscal shocks, and this was achieved after dealing with years of neglect by the previous government. We had to respond to the slowdown in the world economy, and we saw a significant decline of our revenue in 2009-10 and across subsequent budgets.
Our response to the crisis was measured and prudent. We did not take the advice of those opposite about slashing and burning our budget. We took a longer term view of what this means for financial management, in order to make sure that we could continue to fund core services. We supported confidence in the economy. We supported, and in fact enhanced where necessary, priority services to the community. Our program of capital investment not only supported the economy at that time, but also is expanding the productive capacity of the economy for the longer term. Our response provided confidence, stability and leadership to the private sector.
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