Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher

SASKIA MABIN, HOST: Senator Katy Gallagher, ACT Senator and Finance Minister joins me now. Good morning and welcome to the program.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER: Good morning, thanks for having me on.

MABIN: Thanks for being here. We've been talking a lot this morning about the deal struck between the ACT Greens and the ACT Government to reduce the $250 health levy for ratepayers down to $100. What do you make of this deal?

GALLAGHER: Look, I think it's a matter for the ACT Assembly and for the negotiations that have been had over the last week or so. You know, I haven't been involved in those, and as a former Chief Minister, I understand the need to pass a budget each year, so those negotiations clearly have been important to ensure the budget gets through.

MABIN: I understand federal Labor did not endorse ACT Labor's health levy. Would you endorse this lower levy?

GALLAGHER: Look, I think it's really, it's a matter for the ACT Government and the ACT Assembly as to how they raise revenue and how they spend their revenue. It is a sovereign parliament, and you know, really makes those decisions on its own. I guess the issue that we've been focusing on is any perception that the federal government isn't paying their fair share of hospital or health funding. You know, it's pretty clear that over the last term we've worked very closely with the ACT Government to make sure that where the Commonwealth can provide assistance, we are providing assistance, and that goes both to hospitals, but also to the primary care system here which has such an impact on hospitals if it's not funded properly.

MABIN: And on that, you've put out a release, your office has put out a release today, announcing that there will be from July 1, from today, a funding boost from the Albanese Government of $50 million to Canberra’s hospitals. However, I understand this is not new money, this was announced in March. Is that correct?

GALLAGHER: Well it was money that was agreed as part of discussions around extending or rolling over the hospital agreement while we have further discussions on the longer-term agreement, but it is new money that flows from July 1. So I think the point we are making is that from July 1 there will be more money from the Commonwealth going into hospitals, but there will also be some money that will flow this financial year into primary care, which is the Commonwealth’s area of responsibility in in the health system. And that we are hoping, working with the ACT government, will help relieve some of the pressure on hospitals if we get the primary healthcare system working as best as it can with the resources it needs that should, in turn, help the ACT Government with managing some of its hospital demand.

MABIN: The Federal Government has also made a series of funding announcements over recent months. I think the sum of these announcements would come to somewhere more than $20 million. Things like money for the Interchange Health Co-op in Tuggeranong, for three fully bulk-billed GP practices in the ACT, for walk-in centres, respite beds. These are announcements that we've talked about on the radio previously. This $50 million that I guess starts to flow from today for Canberra’s hospitals, is that separate to all of those other announcements?

GALLAGHER: Yes. So that's money that will go directly through the, essentially through the hospital agreement that we have with the ACT Government, and then those other investments, which as you say, I mean, many of them were part of election commitments that we took to the election in May. So, when the Parliament sits, we will have an appropriation bill as one of the first pieces of legislation, and those investments in primary care will be part of that bill so that that money can flow this financial year as well. But we need to legally appropriate it, as you can imagine. But that, again, really important initiatives where we've looked at some of the problems that have been happening in the health system, whether it be lack of access to bulk billing or it's, you know, numbers of GP clinics, which is why the Interchange Health Co-Op, plus the particular patient load they saw in Tuggeranong there. But also, you know, with the discussion over Burrangiri and the future of Burrangiri, it really highlighted what need there was around additional respite beds. So, we've tried to come and meet all of those areas as a genuine partnership with the ACT Government.

MABIN: The Federal Government is saying that this is a 16 per cent increase on what has been spent in this space in the last financial year, and this compares to an average increase of 12 per cent across the country. Why is the ACT special?

GALLAGHER: Oh, look, that was – well, it is special to me, for a start. I mean, it's the community I represent, and it's my home, and we all love it. So of course, the ACT is special. But through our negotiations on that one-year rollover, there was agreement around how much we could provide in extra assistance to hospitals. The way that the extra money for the ACT works out, that sum of $50 million equates to a 16 per cent increase on what we paid last year. So, I think it's really just a matter of, you know, some of the differences between where we are at with the states and territories across Australia. But that was the agreement, and it lifts our total investment to $630 million in the 25-26 financial year. And I guess the point, again, we're trying to make here is that where there was some, I think, some commentary that the Commonwealth isn't, you know, isn't contributing the way it should. I just wanted to make clear that from Jule 1, these are all the extra things that we're going to be doing in the ACT and we will continue to work with the ACT Government about how we build the healthcare system the community needs. It is going through an increased period of demand, which is why those negotiations about the longer-term hospital agreement are so important, but also why reaching that 45 per cent target that was agreed at National Cabinet for funding is an important part of those discussions as well.

MABIN: My guest is ACT Senator, Katy Gallagher. I understand there is a commitment from the Commonwealth Government to fund 45 per cent of the ACT's health care bill in a decade. Is that correct?

GALLAGHER: That's right. That, well that is right, that was part of the agreement reached at National Cabinet linked with some of the reforms that we want to see with the NDIS.

MABIN: Okay, and so where are we at with this increase of funding from the last financial year? What is that as a percentage of the ACT's healthcare bill now?

GALLAGHER: Look, that's I'm just trying to see if I can pull it up quickly, I had it just in front of me. It's not, it's not 45 per cent, so it's lower. It's in the high 30s, I think, from memory. And that's the reason why, listening to the states and territories who have been arguing for an increased, you know, percentage contribution or share of contribution, for that 45 per cent, and it's one that the Commonwealth has agreed to, but in order to get there, and this is the discussions that happen between the states and territories and the Prime Minister, primarily through First Ministers, is that in order to have room to fund the hospitals, we have to look at other areas where increasing costs are placing pressure on us being able to meet that, and that's where the NDIS comes in.

MABIN: Is it still a realistic aim, do you think, to reach that 45 per cent within the decade?

GALLAGHER: Is it still possible?

MABIN: Realistic and possible, yes.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Yes, it is. As long as we get some of those other areas under control, like the NDIS growing, you know at 10 or 12 or 14 per cent means that, you know, some of the costs that, or room we would have, to meet hospital funding is going into NDIS. And so, we have to deal with it really as a package.

MABIN: Senator Katy Gallagher, thanks for your time this morning.