Page 3501 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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MR SESELJA: Treasurer, how much do you estimate or does Treasury estimate that own-source revenue will have to increase in order to keep up with the responsibilities referred to in your submission?
MS GALLAGHER: I think what the opposition are trying to create here is a belief that we have some new ideas or we have costs factored in for increases in our own-source revenue.
Mr Coe: We haven’t seen new ideas from you in a very long time.
MS GALLAGHER: I can certainly say that that is not the case. Of course, it is not just your own-source revenue that you look to when you are looking at how you provide good government services; it is your own efficiencies and it is your savings targets that you set as part of that.
Mr Seselja: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, on relevance, the question was very specific: it asked about how much the Treasury has estimated own-source revenue will have to increase to keep up with the responsibilities referred to in the submission made by the Treasurer to the Henry tax review.
MR SPEAKER: I think that the Treasurer was in the process of addressing that question. I think interjections, particularly from Mr Coe, did encourage her perhaps down a slightly less direct path to the answer. Nonetheless, I invite the Treasurer to return to the question.
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Certainly, in terms of the decisions open to government, we have factored in taxation growth across the forward estimates. They are published in the budget papers. They show slight growth in most of the revenue lines. I think there are a couple where we expect to see some declines. But, overall, there is revenue growth in those taxation lines, and Treasury have not factored in anything over and above that.
Canberra Hospital—surgery cancellation
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, I refer to a statement you made in late July about possible cuts to elective surgery due to high demands at the emergency department. You said, “If this is sustained into another two weeks, you may actually look at winding back on some surgery to free up some beds but not at this point in time.” Minister, has any elective surgery been cancelled or postponed at the Canberra Hospital over the past month to free up beds?
MS GALLAGHER: I cannot answer if there has been any cancellation because, as a normal part of operating the elective lists, there will be cancellations from time to time. But your question is whether there have been cancellations due to lack of available beds in the hospital. To my knowledge, no. The beds in the hospital—and thank you for giving me the opportunity just to remind you that you cut 114 beds and we have replaced all of those and, indeed, are now for the first time in the history of self-government—
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