Page 2114 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 22 June 2010
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of the minister, Katy Gallagher. Since we all sat down through the estimates process last year there has been no improvement in health. There is certainly more money going in. I question some of the priority areas where it is going. I would agree with the Greens in some areas that there are gaps as to where the priorities are in terms of where that money is going. Where is the money for mental health? Where is the money for preventive health? Why is it that we are rolling over another $50 million in infrastructure and so on? Why is it that we are not getting the results that we need in health? The many hundreds of Canberrans waiting for elective surgery, the many thousands of Canberrans that struggle to see a GP and the people that, on a daily basis, struggle in our emergency departments are seeing no improvement in those vital areas of health.
We talked much throughout the process of estimates about the national health and hospitals reform. It is quite clear that the minister does not really understand the full impact of those reforms in a number of areas, particularly the local hospital networks. Although I would like to put all the blame on the minister, I think it would be unfair to do so. It is quite clear that these are not reforms. This has been something that has been cobbled together at very late notice by Kevin Rudd and his gang up on the hill as a conversation changer away from pink batts and other fiascos they are experiencing.
The ACT health minister and other health ministers are now struggling to make sense of what it is that is proposed under these reforms. How much GST is going to be provided? That was certainly an element that came out and surprised everybody. It is not 30 per cent; it is 50 per cent. I criticise the minister for hiding that from the community, for failing to address that issue with the community and say: “We’ll be surrendering 50 per cent rather than 30 per cent of our GST. We were clearly misled.” She does not really know what is going on. Every time we asked questions it was quite clear the answer was: “Well, we’re working that out in the detail.”
To sign up to such a comprehensive reform without understanding the detail does not make sense to me. I will give you an example, Madam Deputy Speaker, and that is in infrastructure. Sixty per cent of planned infrastructure is supposed to be provided for under these reforms, but the minister was unable to articulate what that means. We know that we have a $1 billion health infrastructure plan, or the capital asset development plan. Does that mean 60 per cent of that will be funded? The minister was unable to provide an answer. It is a $600 million question and the minister’s answer was: “Don’t know. We’ll work that out in the detail.”
Some elements of a plan, of course, are going to be worked out in the detail, but I do not see $600 million as a question of detail. A lot of the other areas, like the local hospital networks, are just not elements of detail that you can work out in due course. What is it that gives the people of Canberra any confidence that the Chief Minister did everything he could to understand what the reforms meant and get the best deal for the ACT when we heard his comment, “Let’s go to the bar”? Whilst the other states and territories were fighting hard for these reforms, getting the best deal they could, what does the Chief Minister want to do? Go to the bar. We have ended up with reforms we do not quite understand and reforms that are not necessarily good for the ACT.
Another area that was covered throughout the estimates process was that of bullying. We are awaiting the Public Interest Disclosure Act report. I eagerly anticipate that.
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