Page 4690 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
So, I asked my officials to prepare for me a very clear advice. I am going to read part of it, and then I will table it. I asked for advice on the allegation that Mrs Carnell had made, that I had misled the house and that the figures that the department had produced were wrong. I have offered Independent members of this Assembly a briefing on this matter, and a number of them have taken that up. Mr Stevenson was not able to take it up, but he did request that we write to him and set out this information. I have done that. Mr Fraser's advice reads as follows:
Mrs Carnell has alleged that the waiting list and other data released by the Department in the Quarterly Report is misleading. The data in the Quarterly Reports is produced by the Planning and Resource Management Branch in the central office of the Department and is thoroughly checked for accuracy and the integrity of the data. The Department provides a truthful analysis of activity and financial data over the previous quarter. I can assure you that neither I nor other senior managers seek to manipulate these figures to present a more favourable result than might have occurred. The Quarterly Report reflects the figures as they come to me.
So, there is Mr Fraser's statement, quite effectively refuting Mrs Carnell's low allegations. He continues:
It seems, from the report in the Canberra Times, that Mrs Carnell is quoting some data compiled at WVH with an incorrect figure for the month of June 1994. The June figure was in fact higher than the 4141 quoted by Mrs Carnell. It did not include 193 waiting list patients at Calvary who had been allocated an admission date ("booked patients"). Booked patients are always included in Quarterly Report data. The actual waiting list figure for June was 4334. A copy of Mrs Carnell's information is at Attachment A, and the Department's official statistics are at Attachment B.
That is refuting Mrs Carnell's rather lengthy press release that was issued on Monday, accusing me of misleading. She has not had the guts to come into this chamber and ask me a question about it for two days. Mr Fraser continues:
The September 1994 Quarterly Report, which is based on quarterly averages rather than the raw end-of-month position, indicates that the waiting list appears to have plateaued and was in fact slightly coming down during the September quarter.
Mrs Carnell: That is not what you said.
MR CONNOLLY: That is what I said. Mr Fraser continues:
The June quarter of 1994, based on the averages in April, May and June, indicated a waiting list average of 4416 across the system. The September quarter figure, produced on a similar basis, was 4387.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .