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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1860 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

I have to say that this strategic plan, I think, shows that vision. The mission statement sets out the sorts of things that Healthpact is doing to ensure that the health of the community is improved over time. It is good that the sorts of program priorities that they have in place are similar priorities to those that the Assembly has chosen over the years - smoking, cancer, sun protection and those sorts of areas. Mental health is something that I know Ms Tucker is very concerned about. It is good that we now have a body that cannot be affected by pressures on health budgets and all the other things that public health money has tended to be affected by in the past.

Debate interrupted.

MR SPEAKER: Order! It being 5.00 pm, I propose the question:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Mr Humphries: I require the question to be put forthwith without debate.

Question resolved in the negative.

Debate resumed.

MRS CARNELL: To have a body that is concerned about improving the health of the community, and one that cannot be affected by the difficulties of health budgets - in other words, has its funding fixed at 5 per cent of the tobacco franchise fee - is something that, I hope, everyone in this Assembly supports.

Mr Berry: Only if it performs.

MRS CARNELL: That is an interesting comment by Mr Berry. I was just going to make the point that today I tabled the Government's response to the Estimates Committee report. One of the things that, certainly, Mr Humphries and others would remember is one of the recommendations of the Estimates Committee for years and years - certainly, for the first few years that I was involved - that the Health Promotion Fund should have its funding tied to 5 per cent of the tobacco franchise fee. When those opposite were responding to the Estimates Committee report, every year they knocked that back. I was very pleased that one of the first things we did in government was actually accept that recommendation from us in opposition which we had put forward over a number of years. I think it is working very well.

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