Mr BURKE - 2003-05-27
Treasurer, in your budget, you make provision of 2.5% for inflation. In your Health and Community Services budget, you also forecast a generous increase of $14m in that budget, which is 2.5%. Therefore, your increase in that budget is only in line with the CPI, which is normal procedure for departments to maintain the normal increase in costs they have.
You have also announced in your budget a whole range of initiatives in Health and Community Services. Treasurer, given that your budget allocation only matches CPI, what programs will have to be cut to meet your new initiatives?
ANSWER
The simple answer, Madam Speaker, is: no programs. It does not surprise me that the Leader of the Opposition misreads the budget. I tell you why it does not surprise me. When he was sitting in the number one spot as Chief Minister, with the relationship that he had with budget matters, you would think he would have some responsibility overall for budget matters. However, I believe it was very distant. There was a big distance between whatever went on in budget-related matters and the Chief Minister. Either he distanced himself from it, did not understand it, was not interested or, if he did, he is quite as deceitful as his Treasurer.
Where he is misreading it is the level of increase that he is attributing this government to putting into health. The figure is over 4% in the own revenue that the Northern Territory government is putting in to help. That is not including the impact of the Australian Health Care Agreement with the Northern Territory, yet to be signed, being factored into the budget. However, in signing up to the Australian Health Care Agreement, the increase is around the 4% level, so that is way away from the 2.2% inflation, and it is on top of the $15m that was provided to the health budget earlier this year.
You have also announced in your budget a whole range of initiatives in Health and Community Services. Treasurer, given that your budget allocation only matches CPI, what programs will have to be cut to meet your new initiatives?
ANSWER
The simple answer, Madam Speaker, is: no programs. It does not surprise me that the Leader of the Opposition misreads the budget. I tell you why it does not surprise me. When he was sitting in the number one spot as Chief Minister, with the relationship that he had with budget matters, you would think he would have some responsibility overall for budget matters. However, I believe it was very distant. There was a big distance between whatever went on in budget-related matters and the Chief Minister. Either he distanced himself from it, did not understand it, was not interested or, if he did, he is quite as deceitful as his Treasurer.
Where he is misreading it is the level of increase that he is attributing this government to putting into health. The figure is over 4% in the own revenue that the Northern Territory government is putting in to help. That is not including the impact of the Australian Health Care Agreement with the Northern Territory, yet to be signed, being factored into the budget. However, in signing up to the Australian Health Care Agreement, the increase is around the 4% level, so that is way away from the 2.2% inflation, and it is on top of the $15m that was provided to the health budget earlier this year.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016