ACT government targets health for big cuts

By Tim Gooden
CANBERRA — The ACT government offered voluntary redundancies to workers in the Health Department, with bonuses for early exits, on September 7, in the wake of a consultancy report that recommends trading 300 jobs for $48 million in savings. Chief Minister Kate Carnell said in relation to the Booz-Allen and Hamilton recommendations, "There are no choices, we have to implement".
The nine-week $330,000 review cited chronic over-staffing and inefficient practices as the main causes of the health system's problems. Most of the savings were targeted in administrative and clerical areas where over-staffing was cited at 27.6% and 15.6% respectively.
All unions involved in the health area expressed disgust with the report and foreshadowed industrial action.
At this stage independent MLA Michael Moore is the only non-Liberal parliamentarian supporting the report. Independent Paul Osborne said he would need to be convinced that services would not be affected by the cuts if he was to support the changes. The Greens said they could not support the cuts if quality of care was affected.
Sue Bull, secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party in Canberra, said, "The health system had already deteriorated under an ALP government, and now the Liberals are putting the final knife in. Present staffing levels are barely sufficient to maintain care. No reduction in health services is acceptable to the community."