Mr REED - 1994-08-31
Mr REED (Health and Community Services): Mr Speaker, I take this opportunity to provide some more information in relation to the question asked by the member for Barkly who referred to remarks made by the federal Minister for Human Services and Health, Dr Carmen Lawrence. Mr Speaker, I table a couple of pages from the proof of yesterday's federal Hansard which contain the remarks that Dr Lawrence made. For the benefit of members, I will quote from Dr Lawrence's answer to a question:
I think the House needs to know that the Northern Territory has cut its own contributions to health care to the tune of $15m a year. This is at the same time as the Commonwealth
government, under the Medicare agreement, increased funding by a net 62%, a net $15m. So what we are seeing in the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria and now in
South Australia sadly, is that state governments are pulling funding out of the public hospital system at the same rate as we are putting it in from the Commonwealth system.
I will ask Dr Lawrence by letter today to explain to me where she obtained that information. I will ask her why she believes that there has been a reduction in the Northern Territory's health funding of $15m a year. I refer members, particularly the member for Barkly, to Budget Paper No. 3 for 1994-1995 at pages 28 to 30 where specific detail is provided in relation to the medical benefits supplement and hospital funding grants for the Northern Territory. That is the information that is required for the member for Barkly to understand the level of funding that is provided by the Commonwealth and then, in turn, utilised by the Northern Territory government through the Department of Health and Community Services.
Mr Coulter: It has only increased by $2m.
Mr REED: Other budget papers provide the full details in relation to the matter raised by the member for Barkly. As the Treasurer just interjected, there have been increases in the level of funding, not decreases. It is time that the member for Barkly took her job seriously, studied these papers and finally reached an appreciation of the fact that we are increasing the
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level of funding and support for Territorians' health services. If she has not been in touch with the federal minister already, I ask the member for Barkly, as a member of the same political party as Dr Lawrence, to contact her on behalf of Territorians and ask for clarification.
I hope that it is not the member for Barkly who has been providing this incorrect information to Dr Lawrence because, if she has, that would be a matter of great concern to Territorians. I ask the member for Barkly to study all the documents in the budget papers because the answers are there. As I say, I will be writing to the federal Minister for Human Services and Health today to seek a full and detailed explanation of her comments in the federal parliament yesterday about Northern Territory health funding.
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I think the House needs to know that the Northern Territory has cut its own contributions to health care to the tune of $15m a year. This is at the same time as the Commonwealth
government, under the Medicare agreement, increased funding by a net 62%, a net $15m. So what we are seeing in the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria and now in
South Australia sadly, is that state governments are pulling funding out of the public hospital system at the same rate as we are putting it in from the Commonwealth system.
I will ask Dr Lawrence by letter today to explain to me where she obtained that information. I will ask her why she believes that there has been a reduction in the Northern Territory's health funding of $15m a year. I refer members, particularly the member for Barkly, to Budget Paper No. 3 for 1994-1995 at pages 28 to 30 where specific detail is provided in relation to the medical benefits supplement and hospital funding grants for the Northern Territory. That is the information that is required for the member for Barkly to understand the level of funding that is provided by the Commonwealth and then, in turn, utilised by the Northern Territory government through the Department of Health and Community Services.
Mr Coulter: It has only increased by $2m.
Mr REED: Other budget papers provide the full details in relation to the matter raised by the member for Barkly. As the Treasurer just interjected, there have been increases in the level of funding, not decreases. It is time that the member for Barkly took her job seriously, studied these papers and finally reached an appreciation of the fact that we are increasing the
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level of funding and support for Territorians' health services. If she has not been in touch with the federal minister already, I ask the member for Barkly, as a member of the same political party as Dr Lawrence, to contact her on behalf of Territorians and ask for clarification.
I hope that it is not the member for Barkly who has been providing this incorrect information to Dr Lawrence because, if she has, that would be a matter of great concern to Territorians. I ask the member for Barkly to study all the documents in the budget papers because the answers are there. As I say, I will be writing to the federal Minister for Human Services and Health today to seek a full and detailed explanation of her comments in the federal parliament yesterday about Northern Territory health funding.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016