Page 3150 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (11.46): I am delighted to be speaking about the superannuation provision account. I may well seek my second 10 minutes but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Of course, the superannuation provision account is a pretty extraordinary asset as well as a liability really for the territory. The forecast is $8.1 billion, of which $3.6 billion is unfunded in terms of the overall liability. This is an ongoing issue that we confront every year at estimates. That is, of course, what the discount rate is and exactly how it is that we calculate what the liability is and what it is that is unfunded.
When you look at the consolidated financial statements from 2012 to today the ACT government has consistently underestimated the liability by about 50 per cent on average. Of course the discount rate makes this quite complex. In the 2014-15 budget it was estimated that by 2017-18 the liability would be funded at just over 60 per cent. However, in reality the actual result is a little over 40 per cent. Over the past few years the forecast appeared to be considerably out. This is something that we all have a responsibility to be diligent in keeping an eye on, because it is an extraordinary liability that we have. The decisions that we make today will have a huge impact on the value of the fund in the coming decades.
Debate (on motion by Ms Cheyne) adjourned to a later hour.
Sitting suspended from 11.49 am to 2.00 pm.
Questions without notice
Canberra Hospital—emergency department bypass
MR COE: I have a question for the Minister for Health. During the Canberra Hospital emergency department bypass on 14 August, patients were discharged late at night in order to reduce pressure on the hospital. Minister, how is it clinically appropriate to discharge patients after 10 o’clock at night?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Coe for the question. First, I would like to assure the Assembly that no patient would be discharged in a situation where that was not clinically appropriate. My understanding is that there was a lot of work done to identify patients who could be discharged, potentially at night but particularly in the morning. There was a lot of work done across the different wards and areas of the hospital; executive directors worked with staff in those wards to identify patients who could be discharged early in the morning. The work was done to prepare those patients for discharge. There would, of course, have been no patients discharged where that was not clinically appropriate.
MR COE: Minister, were normal discharge procedures carried out? If so, why isn’t this activity happening every night?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: As I said, my understanding—and I had a conversation about this with the CEO of Canberra Health Services on Friday—is that primarily the discharge arrangements were that there was work done within each of the areas of the Canberra Hospital to identify patients who could be discharged early in the morning.
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