ESTIMATES COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – 17 JUNE 2010
Mr RYAN: For 2009-10.
Mr VATSKALIS: And similar things may happen in 2001-11. For example, there are agreements with
the federal government that provide extra funding for the hospital. That extra funding will appear in the
budget and, at the end of the year, will be higher than what we alllocated. It happens to all outputs.
Mr CONLAN: Is it a similar situation with Royal Darwin Hospital? It was allocated $245m in 2009-10
in the budget, in your budget media release. Now, we see $292m. So, what is the potential overrun
there for the Royal Darwin Hospital?
Mr RYAN: Again you have a similar situation. It is not an overrun, but it is an actual adjustment to the
budget. The budget has now moved to $273m for the financial year ...
Mr CONLAN: $273m?
Mr RYAN: The increases there are specific to Commonwealth agreements that are put in place
during the financial year, and with the commencement of some NT fund admissions such as the Alan
Walker Cancer Care Centre. It commenced in March. There are specific NT funding that comes in
with that - radiation, oncology …
Mr CONLAN: But their radiation oncology unit is a Commonwealth-funded initiative fought very
vigorously by my colleague here as the former member for Solomon.
Mr VATSKALIS: That is a good spin!
Mr CONLAN: Well, as much as you would like to spin it the other way, the facts do speak for
themselves. It was …
Mr VATSKALIS: Let me remind you the oncology unit was built by the Rudd government which
provided $27m, not $13m. It is the oncology unit to which you have been invited three times but you
did not even bother to turn up to see it.
Mr RYAN: Can we also make the point that the Commonwealth funding was for the capital
development, rather than actual operations.
Mr TOLLNER: Really? You get no money from Medicare, you get no ongoing support …
Mr CHAIRMAN: Member for Fong Lim, you do not have the call.
Mr CONLAN: We can take the issue of did not bother to turn up at another time. I think that is a bit of
a low blow. Nevertheless, Mr Ryan did indicate that there might be a significant overrun, or rather a
significant or insignificant overrun, with regard to the Alice Springs Hospital. What I am asking is, what
is that figure?
Mr VATSKALIS: He did not indicate a significant overrun …
Mr CONLAN: He just said it.
Mr VATSKALIS: … he indicated a possible 1% to 2%. That is not a significant overrun in a budget of
$127m. Would you like us to stop treating people with renal dialysis because we are over the budget?
Would you like to tell people from remote communities coming in to be treated because we are over
budget? Well, we are not. You probably do, but this government is not.
Mr CONLAN: Minister, that is not the point. The point is, what we are trying to find out …
ESTIMATES COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – 17 JUNE 2010
Mr VATSKALIS: It is the point.
Mr CONLAN: It is not the point. If there is are significant, or rather extra services that are required by
these hospitals, the point is, and what we are asking here is, how come they were not foreseen at the
beginning?
Mr VATSKALIS: Well, we could not foresee the swine flu epidemic. We could not foresee the influx of
people from other jurisdictions to Alice Springs for renal dialysis. Unless you have got a crystal ball
and you can manage to see into the future, I cannot tell what is going to happen tomorrow.
Mr CONLAN: So, essentially minister then, the budget for Alice Springs Hospital is announced at
$118m, it has now come in at what, $127m?
Mr VATSKALIS: Thanks to the Australian government for putting in money for programs that they
can be incorporated into the budget.
Mr CONLAN: Okay, now do you have a list of those Commonwealth initiatives that you say has
pushed that out to an extra $11m?
Mr VATSKALIS: Yes.
Mr RYAN: For the admitted patients, the additional Commonwealth funded programs I can give you
are: $4m for the elective surgery waitlist; $1.2m for organ and tissue donation; and, $500 000 for
highly specialised drugs. But the key area here is, the Northern Territory government has actually
funded quite a bit of money through the, as I said before, the Alan Walker Cancer Clinic, and also
nursing hours per patient day, and that has amounted to about $16.4m.
Mr CONLAN: Okay, so I will just add that up. That is $5.2m - $5.7m. $5.7m is what the
Commonwealth initiatives have pushed that out, but that does not … $120 minus $127 is a lot more
than $5.7m.
Mr RYAN: There was also an additional increase to the budget for Commonwealth programs carried
forward from last year as well, they were incomplete for 2008-09.
Mr CONLAN: So, minister, what …
Mr RYAN: $5.5m.
Mr CONLAN: So, minister, what programs were they?
Mr RYAN: $3m for the trauma centre, $720 000 for activity-based funding …
Mr CONLAN: No, I am talking about the Alice Springs Hospital here.
Mr RYAN: These relate to admitted patients across the board, so across all hospitals.
Mr CONLAN: Yes, but I am trying to break it down per hospital, if you see what I am …
Mr RYAN: The data we pull together for Estimates is based on outputs rather than on a hospital. We
do not report externally on hospitals.
Mr CONLAN: So you do not have a breakdown of how much it costs to run the Alice Springs Hospital
or the Royal Darwin Hospital? I do not see why it is such a complicated question.
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