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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 11 Hansard (14 December) . . Page.. 3041 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Interestingly, yes, we are doing a 10-year plan, and guess where the money is coming from. The Commonwealth. The Commonwealth has provided funding under the Medicare agreement for the ACT to develop a 10-year strategic plan for health services and property management in Health - something that is very long overdue. This process will provide planning for the department's medium- and short-term service goals. There are three stages to this $250,000 - shock, horror; Commonwealth money - strategic plan for the ACT.

Phase 1 is a property condition audit of the department's facilities at a strategic level, and the subsequent identification of future capital works and maintenance needs. Phase 2 is the development of a 10-year health services plan which will identify future service strategies and identify facilities needed to meet those strategies. Phase 3 will be the development of a 10-year capital works and property management plan by evaluating and combining the findings of phases 1 and 2.

The Commonwealth has provided $115,000 for the property condition audit and the consultants Coopers and Lybrand have been appointed to undertake this audit. Phases 2 and 3 will commence shortly and further funding will be provided by the Commonwealth to complete the 10-year services plan. All of the funding required to undertake this project is being provided by the Commonwealth under the Medicare agreement. I think it is appropriate that the ACT have a 10-year strategic plan, and I am very appreciative that the Commonwealth has provided the money. This is Mr Connolly's Medicare agreement, not mine, but he did not even know what was in it.

MR CONNOLLY: Are we not just spending $250,000 duplicating "Health Goals and Targets"? You are choosing where to spend this money, and you are spending it on yet another consultancy while you are cutting back on services.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Connolly is wrong again. The 10-year strategic plan money is provided under the Medicare agreement by the Commonwealth for long-term planning. The Commonwealth, like the current ACT Government, not the last ACT Government, believes that in Health, particularly, it is essential to have long-term planning. Mr Connolly raised "Health Goals and Targets". That is a very important part of our long-term strategic plan, but so are the other phases of this approach. It is not duplicating at all, as Mr Connolly would know if he had read "Health Goals and Targets", which he obviously has not, even though it was produced under his ministry. He would know that a property condition audit was not part of "Health Goals and Targets" at all. Phase 2 is the 10-year health services plan which brings "Health Goals and Targets" into a planned strategy which allows us to plan for the future, looking at the information that we have on the demographics of Canberra, where we are heading, and so on. I am very proud to be part of a 10-year plan. I am very pleased that the Commonwealth is paying for it and not the ACT, and I am very pleased that Mr Connolly shows again he knows nothing about health.

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