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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (29 February) . . Page.. 488 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

If Mr Berry believes that less revenue to the ACT health system does not matter, he is really wrong. In 1989-90 the percentage of private patients treated at Woden Valley Hospital was 41.3 per cent. By 1994-95 this had plummeted to 17.6 per cent. The latest figures show that the private patient separations are currently around 14 per cent, just one-third of what they were six years ago.

Mr Speaker, I think this really clarifies the whole situation. Over the period since self-government there has been a loss of revenue of $20m.

Mr Hird: How much?

MRS CARNELL: A loss of $20m to ACT Health. In fact, this year alone there is a potential loss of $4m. Mr Berry says that that does not matter. Ms Follett said that that does not matter. The reality is, Mr Speaker, that at Woden Valley Hospital it still costs 30 per cent more to treat an average patient. Add to that the problems with private health insurance, a $4m gap, and what you end up with, Mr Speaker, is a very real problem. You end up with people on waiting lists for longer than they should be, and, obviously, budget blow-outs. All I can hope, Mr Speaker, is that when people go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new Federal government - - -

Mr Whitecross: A Federal election comment, Mr Speaker.

MRS CARNELL: No. The issue of private health insurance and the effect that has on Canberra's hospital system is something that people take seriously. The comments that I have just made were made regularly by Mr Connolly.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I have a question to put to the Chief Minister. Noting the Government's initial threat to lock workers out of their jobs because they disagreed with the Government, noting the Government's subsequent loss of interest in the threat because of the impact it might have on the Federal Liberal Party's election chances, and noting the Federal Liberal Party's industrial relations policies, will the Chief Minister now give an unequivocal commitment - I say it again, an unequivocal commitment - to this Assembly that workers will not be locked out of ACT government workplaces during the course of the current industrial dispute over an enterprise agreement? An unequivocal commitment is what I want.

MRS CARNELL: Thank you very much, Mr Berry, for that question. This Government has absolutely no wish to lock anybody out of anywhere. What this Government always wanted to do was to go to the umpire, to go to the commission. What happened last year, Mr Speaker, was that unions filed a notification under section 170, a very interesting part of the Federal industrial relations legislation. The unions filed the notification under section 170, not the Government. I promise this Assembly that we did not file a notification under section 170.

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