Page 2878 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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the other big issue is accountability indicators. It has taken me a while to get my head around what the accountability indicators are, and you find that as soon as you get your head around what they are they change. Accountability indicators seem to be in place for only a few years before they are discontinued or transferred or integrated into another accountability indicator.
We should be able to look at the accountability indicators over a significant period of time and see a picture before us of what the directorates have been achieving year on year. Last year was a particularly poor year from this point of view, because of the transition of departments into directorates in a way that meant that a lot of the accountability indicators could not be properly reported against. I suggest that an accountability indicator for all directorates should be to maintain a majority of their accountability indicators for more than three years; maybe even only two years would still be a triumph. I look forward to asking more about that. (Time expired.)
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (4.33): As Ms Hunter has already said in her speech today, this is an important budget in terms of the reforms outlined to the revenue base. While the Greens agree with the general fiscal strategy, there are aspects we would address differently, and in looking to investments, in particular, that would achieve long-term returns.
In relation to the health budget, I have already spoken about the investment we see there. Health accounts for a significant part of the budget, as we all know. As I have already said, more doctors and nurses are always welcome. These sorts of resources are things that we welcome into the system. And we recognise the need to meet demand. The health budget is infinite, as is its growth, and we are going to have to focus more on preventative health if we are to address the viability of the health system. This has been recognised by a number of groups with respect to how we approach this issue. As I said, it continues to grow every year, and there is the matter of what we are going to do to address that and help to prevent people from ending up in the hospital system and needing acute services.
Every year there is a debate locally and nationally that governments must change their direction. However, the amount of money directed towards preventative measures is minuscule when you look at the overall health budget. The budget provides $109,505,000 in new recurrent funding for the Health Directorate, but a small fraction is directed to preventative and primary health initiatives. For example, $300,000 is provided over three years for the healthy weight action plan, yet the ACT Health Council said before it was defunded that obesity is the biggest risk to life expectancies in Canberra.
The Greens are pleased to see the refunding of the Heart Foundation’s active living program, with $485,000 over three years by the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate. While it is coming from another directorate, this is obviously a really important way that we can address health, and the Heart Foundation have been extremely active in this. As we know, heart disease is one of the areas where preventative measures can have a big impact, particularly because it is one of our biggest killers in the community. It is an area where we can have a big impact if we start to focus strongly on preventative measures.
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