Page 4697 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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Mr Fraser goes on:
As I have also advised you earlier, officers from the Treasury, the Department's central office and WVH are working together to highlight any areas of budgetary concern at WVH and to assist the Department to meet its budgetary targets for 1994/95.
On the latest end-of-November figures, I am told that the year-to-date position is an overspend of $0.807m. When compared with expected cash flows of expenditure, this is an improvement from the year-to-date position of October, of $2.2m. So, through November, we have significantly pulled that back, and that is what I expect good management teams to do. I do not have a vast army of ministerial staff sitting in my office who make these decisions. We employ very good senior public servants. We employ managers, and we expect those managers to manage. We expect those managers to manage in accordance with the principles of good budgetary practice and program budgeting - something that the Opposition, in theory, seems to support but, in practice, likes to squawk about.
Madam Speaker, I reiterate that the advice to me from the department is that we are expecting, for the first time ever, to live within budget. Mrs Carnell says, "Shock, horror! A blow-out by $2.2m!". They are fairly inaccurate and meaningless figures. On the November figures, you would be saying that it is looking at $800,000, and over the 12-month period we are confident that we will live within that. I would remind members that this time last year Mrs Carnell was squawking about a $10m budget blow-out from Health. Even Andersens said that it might be $10m. But, as a result of the management changes that we made, as a result of continually improving the management climate at Woden Valley Hospital, as a result of getting everybody pulling together, we reduced that $10m, which is what you say it was, to $4.4m in this year's budget. That is a significant budgetary achievement, and I am confident, Madam Speaker, as are my senior departmental officers, that this year, for the first time, we will live within our budget. Madam Speaker, I table the document that I have been quoting from.
Ms Follett: I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper.
TOTALCARE INDUSTRIES LTD
Statement of Corporate Intent - 1994-1997
MR LAMONT (Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Housing and Community Services, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport): Madam Speaker, for the information of members, I present the statement of corporate intent, 1 July 1994 to 30 June 1997, for Totalcare Industries Ltd, pursuant to section 19 of the Territory Owned Corporations Act 1990, and I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
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