Page 3036 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 11 September 1990
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Budget Decisions
MR BERRY: My question is directed to the Treasurer, Mr Kaine. Mr Kaine, I, too, refer to a news report on Channel 10 last night where the Minister for Finance, Mr Duby, said that there would be no increases in taxes on alcohol and cigarettes in today's budget because, and I quote Mr Duby, "I drink and smoke". Has the Treasurer's first budget been framed according to the personal vices of his Minister for Finance, and does it therefore follow that the reason there will be an increase in petrol taxes in today's budget is that the courts have decided that Mr Duby, the Minister for Finance, should not drive?
MR KAINE: I must say that the Opposition has moved from being deadly serious to becoming quite humorous in its questions, and perhaps that will make this place a more pleasant place for us to be. Of course, to suggest that any government or any treasurer is going to frame its budget in terms of the idiosyncrasies of one or other of its members is absolutely absurd, except that, as I think back now, that may have been the justification for your budget last year. That may be why it was such a shambles.
I have to assume that there is some basis to the question; but, in all seriousness, the Treasurer does not smoke at all and does not drink a great deal either, and - - -
Mr Collaery: Not until after the budget.
MR KAINE: Yes, not until after the budget. Had I decided to put a tax on either of those goods in this year, the burden would have fallen on me very lightly indeed. Perhaps it is better that I apply new taxes to products that I do use, so that then at least I can claim that I share the burden with all other taxpayers.
Medical Staff for ACT Hospitals
MR STEFANIAK: Unfortunately, my question is not nearly as amusing as Mr Berry's. It is to the Minister for Health. What action is the Minister taking to address the expected difficulties in obtaining interim and resident medical staff for ACT hospitals in 1991 and 1992?
MR HUMPHRIES: I thank Mr Stefaniak for his question. I understand that the number of medical officers graduating in New South Wales in 1991 will be about 67 per cent of the number that graduated this year and, of course, New South Wales supplies the ACT very substantially with medical officers for our public hospital system. My department has been aware of this situation for some time and is working towards addressing the expected shortfall of junior medical staff from New South Wales. For example, an active overseas recruitment campaign has recruited six medical
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