Mr RIOLI - 1998-04-30
Centralians are appalled that the minister has overseen a crisis in allied health services for several years. Despite the minister's attempt last week to fob off a report on this crisis, a senior manager and consultant to the minister's department for 6 years has gone public and has made it clear that the report's dire assessments are true. I seek leave to table a copy of a 2-page article quoting this man.
Leave granted.
Mr RIOLI: I ask the minister how it is that a person, who actually knows what is happening, has confirmed the minister's lack of action?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I wonder sometimes why I bother to stand up in this Chamber and respond to questions from the opposition. I seem to spend all my time trying to explain aspects of health in detail. Members of the opposition either refuse to understand or simply do not understand the arguments that I put to them. The member is referring to an interim report, as I have explained in some detail, on what is occurring in allied health in Alice Springs. Any responsible newspaper has dropped the subject, but it is being given a run by the Alice Springs News.
While I am on my feet, I want to make a couple of points about the total misrepresentation that the shadow member for health has been guilty of in this Chamber over the last few days with regard to the health budget. I sympathise with the Treasurer in
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his endeavours to lay out budget papers that explain, as simply as possible, how to add up the figures that the opposition refuses to ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Continue your answer, minister.
Mr BURKE: Opposition members refuse to understand the figures that are provided for them. I suggest that, next time, we lay out the documentation along the lines of Playschool. The first line could be: 'Open wide! Look inside!' To identify the section on Territory Health Services, a picture could be inserted of a little Muppet doctor.
In the Chamber yesterday ...
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: I intend to explain this. Questions have been asked about health and I will explain this. I gave a detailed report on the health budget yesterday, yet the shadow spokesman simply refuses to understand the figures. He is continuing to go to the general public and suggest that money has been cut from health. The simple fact is that, in the 1997-98 budget, health received $376.7m, and additions have been made to that budget in the course of the year. I explained those additions. The member for Arnhem wants to take notice of this because he is big at saying that money is not being spent on Aboriginal affairs as they relate to health and other areas. My budget response was embarrassingly full of budget allocations in the area of Aboriginal health. I talked about the amount of money we are spending on rural and remote clinics throughout the Northern Territory. My constituents at Palmerston would like an upgraded clinic to cater for growth in their area but there is no provision for that in this budget because the money has been put into Aboriginal health.
If the member takes the $376m that was allocated in the 1997-98 budget and does some simple addition ...
Mr Stirling: Basic health care is what this is about.
Mr BURKE: No, do this! Just do it! It is the truth. Members of the press need to understand it and Territorians need to understand it. To the $376m, add $2.6m for additional special-purpose payments funding, which included immunisation and the coordinated care trials. Add $1.9m for additional renal treatment. Add $1m for capital equipment for Alice Springs Hospital. Add $6.3m for capital works carried forward to this budget. Add $2.5m for the public service certified agreement. Subtract the one-off flood funding of $13.8m from that total of $403m and compare the remainder to the budget allocation for 1998-99. The budget allocation for this year shows a 5% increase. Stop peddling the myth that money has been cut from health in the budget.
With regard to the allied health report, I do not care who comes out as a stakeholder and comments on the veracity of the report. That is why it has been sent out to gather comment from the stakeholders. Consultants will put the report together. It will be commented on by Territory Health Services and then I will respond to it.
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Leave granted.
Mr RIOLI: I ask the minister how it is that a person, who actually knows what is happening, has confirmed the minister's lack of action?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I wonder sometimes why I bother to stand up in this Chamber and respond to questions from the opposition. I seem to spend all my time trying to explain aspects of health in detail. Members of the opposition either refuse to understand or simply do not understand the arguments that I put to them. The member is referring to an interim report, as I have explained in some detail, on what is occurring in allied health in Alice Springs. Any responsible newspaper has dropped the subject, but it is being given a run by the Alice Springs News.
While I am on my feet, I want to make a couple of points about the total misrepresentation that the shadow member for health has been guilty of in this Chamber over the last few days with regard to the health budget. I sympathise with the Treasurer in
Page 235
his endeavours to lay out budget papers that explain, as simply as possible, how to add up the figures that the opposition refuses to ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Continue your answer, minister.
Mr BURKE: Opposition members refuse to understand the figures that are provided for them. I suggest that, next time, we lay out the documentation along the lines of Playschool. The first line could be: 'Open wide! Look inside!' To identify the section on Territory Health Services, a picture could be inserted of a little Muppet doctor.
In the Chamber yesterday ...
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: I intend to explain this. Questions have been asked about health and I will explain this. I gave a detailed report on the health budget yesterday, yet the shadow spokesman simply refuses to understand the figures. He is continuing to go to the general public and suggest that money has been cut from health. The simple fact is that, in the 1997-98 budget, health received $376.7m, and additions have been made to that budget in the course of the year. I explained those additions. The member for Arnhem wants to take notice of this because he is big at saying that money is not being spent on Aboriginal affairs as they relate to health and other areas. My budget response was embarrassingly full of budget allocations in the area of Aboriginal health. I talked about the amount of money we are spending on rural and remote clinics throughout the Northern Territory. My constituents at Palmerston would like an upgraded clinic to cater for growth in their area but there is no provision for that in this budget because the money has been put into Aboriginal health.
If the member takes the $376m that was allocated in the 1997-98 budget and does some simple addition ...
Mr Stirling: Basic health care is what this is about.
Mr BURKE: No, do this! Just do it! It is the truth. Members of the press need to understand it and Territorians need to understand it. To the $376m, add $2.6m for additional special-purpose payments funding, which included immunisation and the coordinated care trials. Add $1.9m for additional renal treatment. Add $1m for capital equipment for Alice Springs Hospital. Add $6.3m for capital works carried forward to this budget. Add $2.5m for the public service certified agreement. Subtract the one-off flood funding of $13.8m from that total of $403m and compare the remainder to the budget allocation for 1998-99. The budget allocation for this year shows a 5% increase. Stop peddling the myth that money has been cut from health in the budget.
With regard to the allied health report, I do not care who comes out as a stakeholder and comments on the veracity of the report. That is why it has been sent out to gather comment from the stakeholders. Consultants will put the report together. It will be commented on by Territory Health Services and then I will respond to it.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016