Balancing the various Australian State budgets
WA's $9b health spend 'unsustainable'
AN inquiry has begun into Western Australia’s health system to control a massive blowout in costs in which more than half of every new dollar spent since 2013-14 has gone into the department.
The health budget has almost tripled to $9 billion in the past decade, representing 30 per cent of the entire state spend, and if not addressed would eventually consume the entire budget, Premier Mark McGowan said.
It is also 20 per cent above the national average for public hospital services, which WA Director-General of Health David Russell-Weisz has previously blamed on an inefficient department bureaucracy.
Former NSW Director-General of Health Robyn Kruk will lead the Sustainable Health Review that is due to report by March.
Since being elected in March, the McGowan government has been preparing West Australians for sharp rises in bills, fees and charges to deal with a record $3 billion budget deficit and debt tipped to peak at $42 billion.
But tackling the rising costs of running the state’s hospitals and other health services represents a far greater amount of money.
“Unless you are delivering some savings and efficiencies around 30 per cent of the overall cost and structure of the state budget, you are not going to be able to make the necessary changes in order to rescue the state finances,” Health Minister Roger Cook said.
WA’s health workers are the best paid in Australia, and former treasurer Mike Nahan last year said the elevated wages for nurses, doctors, teachers and orderlies - linked to the mining boom - were “30 to 40 per cent” of the cause of rising costs.
The McGowan government is capping pay rises for public servants at $1000 a year, although doctors have negotiated a better 1.5 per cent deal that still has two years to run.
Mr Cook said the review was not about cutting the health budget or employee wages, but ensuring value for money in how resources were allocated.
The head of the Australian Medical Association in WA, Omar Khorshid, backed the review if it meant writing a new plan for how the health system should look within 10 years.
That included sensitive discussions about “what services you want to provide to which patients” in an ageing society with limited funds.
“Although the budget has tripled, we certainly don’t have triple the number of beds, we don’t have triple the numbers of doctors and we don’t have triple the number of nurses,” he told reporters.
“What we do seem to have is a tripling in the size of the bureaucracy that runs health.”
WA health statistics:
* Costs up from $3 billion to $9 billion in past decade
* Population tipped to increase from 2.4 million to 3.2 million in next decade
* People over 65 tipped to rise by 50 per cent in the next decade
* Fewest GPs per capita of all states
* Cost of public hospitals 20 per cent above national average
Source: WA government
So why does NSW need Western Australia's royalties????
Ben WyattWA News
WA electricity prices to rise by 10.9 per cent
WA Government targets WA Seniors Card holders
WEST Australian households are set to be slugged more for their bills, with Treasurer Ben Wyatt announcing the full suite of increased fees and charges today.
The increases which will see a rise for a regular household of 7.7 per cent across the board, with an electricity increases of $169, 10.9 per cent on last year as a result of a doubling a fixed charge.
Water and sewerage charges will increase by 6%, and there is a 1.8% rise in public transport, while students travelling on buses and trains will pay 70c.
Over all the average household will pay almost $438 extra a year.
Mr Wyatt said West Australians had to pay more because of the state of the finances.
SUMMARY
An increase of $169 to the fixed charge component of electricity bills, or 10.9 per cent for the ‘representative household’;A six per cent increase in water, sewerage and drainage charges;Changes to public transport fares, which include a 1.8 per cent increase in public transport standard fares (rounded to the nearest 10 cents), student fares increasing to 70 cents (from 60 cents), and a five per cent reduction in the discount offered to SmartRider fares (to 20 per cent for Autoload and 10 per cent for other re-load);Vehicle licence charges will increase by 5.5 per cent, an increase of 2.8 per cent for motor injury insurance, and a 1.7 per cent increase for a driver’s licence; andA 3.35 per cent increase in the emergency services levy.
Mr Wyatt said every West Australians needed to do their share in fixing the budget.
“We have had to make tough decisions to help get the Budget under control and unfortunately the burden of those decisions need to be shared across the community,” he saud
“These changes to household charges have not been taken lightly by this Government, but we have no choice but to fix the mess left behind by the previous Liberal National Government.
“This Government takes the State’s financial challenge very seriously, with the State heading to more than $42 billion in debt by 2020, and an operating deficit of about $3 billion in 2016?17 - all the legacy of the Liberals and Nationals.
“With our GST share at ridiculously low levels and Treasury forecasting a further $2.6 billion revenue write down since we were elected, fixing the mess we inherited will take time.”
Concerns about the eligibility requirements of the Seniors Card were rejected by MR Wyatt, but he said the rebates and discounts offered under the card, the most generous in the nation, were no longer sustainable.
Those with a Commonwealth concession card will continue to get rebates; 50 per cent for water service charges capped at $600 and local government rates capped at $750, and a 50 per cent rebate on the underground electricity connection charge.
However, as of July 1, for households with only a WA Seniors Card, these rebates will be capped at $100 each a measure set to save an estimated $84 million across the forward estimates period.
All other rebates are unchanged and WA Seniors Card holders can continue to access a range of other benefits and discounts, including the Cost of Living Rebate and free off-peak public transport.
The changes to the household fees and charges and concessions are expected to improve the State’s net debt position by about $238 million over the forward estimates period.
Mr Wyatt also revealed increased support mechanisms for those struggling to meet increased costs, including an increase to the Energy Assistance Payment – currently paid to 200,000 households on Commonwelath concession cards) to $300.
The Government will also add an additional $16.3 million the Hardship Utility Grant Scheme over the next two years and extra funding for the financial counselling program.
Poor Taxpayers in NSW, no wonder WA taxpayers have to give up some of their royalties....
Sydney homeless living in hotels at taxpayers expense"
Taxpayers are picking up the bill to house over 100 homeless people in hotels after the group of vulnerable residents were moved on from their former living area in Martin Place. Council workers in dump trucks backed by police officers evicted dozens of homeless people from their illegal Martin Place encampment on Saturday after Clover Moore's City of Sydney council deemed their presence a 'public nuisance'. One man, who is staying at the Ibis Hotel, said that he is now a 'housing priority' after sleeping on the streets for seven years.
An enquiry?
they don't k ow why?
bloody hell
- just sack every single incompetent beureaucrat in the government
wel that's 90% of the budget reduced Immediately