Media Statement - 14th January 2008
As an important first step in delivering a new era of federal-state cooperation, a meeting of Treasurers and Health Ministers in Brisbane today took important decisions towards reducing elective surgery waiting lists, reforming Special Purpose Payments, and developing improved reporting systems for the funding of indigenous initiatives.
The meeting reflected all governments’ determination to work cooperatively to meet the economic and other challenges Australia faces, and to end the buck-passing and blame shifting that has characterised past state-federal relations. It is in this spirit that treasurers agreed to meet again on 14 March to further advance these issues for the benefit of all Australians.
COAG
Elective
Surgery
Waiting
List
Reduction
Plan
Commonwealth and
State and Territory Treasurers and Health Ministers today agreed on the first
steps in the joint four year plan for elective surgery waiting lists. Governments
agreed that the aim of the Plan is that by the end of four years the backlog of
patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for elective surgery will
be dramatically reduced across
Australia.
As announced at the COAG meeting on 20 December 2007, the Commonwealth will provide $150 million to the States in 2008 for an immediate national blitz on waiting lists. States and Territories will use this funding to conduct an additional 25,000 procedures to reduce the backlog of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended times for elective surgery in 2008. States and territories also committed to maintain their current efforts in undertaking elective surgery procedures and in providing public hospital services more broadly.
Taking into account the need for and cost of additional services and the capacity of jurisdictions to increase the volume of elective surgery, Governments agreed on the following distribution of extra services and funding:
Reform of
Specific
Purpose
Payments
Commonwealth and State and Territory Treasurers today also
agreed to in-principle reforms of Specific Purpose Payments, the grants
provided to the States and Territories for specific recurrent and capital
purposes. The Treasurers agreed to rationalise the number of SPPs, reducing
their number by at least three-quarters, without reducing their value.
This will minimise wastage, avoid duplication and yield greater administrative efficiencies, freeing up resources for frontline services. Treasurers also reaffirmed their commitment to focus on outcomes and outputs when determining SPP arrangements. In addition, they gave in-principle support to the Commonwealth issuing incentive payments to drive reforms in key sectors of the economy.
Since SPPs are a significant source of funding, supporting almost all areas of State service delivery effort, reform of SPPs will be a complex and difficult task that will require cooperation on all sides. As COAG has requested a report by the end of March 2008, consideration of a new SPP framework needs to begin immediately. A process for taking this forward will involve a Heads of Treasuries Working Party to consider options and develop a new SPP framework.
The Working Party will be chaired by the Australian Treasury and have representatives at the Deputy Secretary level from each jurisdiction. To meet COAG’s deadline, the Working Group will be required to provide a draft report to Heads of Treasuries by the end of February, so that the report can be finalised and provided to the Ministerial Council for consideration at its March meeting, in time for it to report back to the March meeting of COAG.
Funding of Services to Indigenous People
Commonwealth and State and Territory treasurers today
further affirmed the importance of measuring the cost-effectiveness of
Indigenous programs as a means of informing better policy making in Indigenous
affairs. To facilitate this, Treasurers agreed that all jurisdictions will
cooperate in the development of a national framework for reporting expenditure
on Indigenous services.
The national framework will comprise expenditure by all jurisdictions, at both Commonwealth and State/Territory levels and will seek to include both Indigenousspecific and mainstream spending on services for Indigenous Australians in areas such as: education; justice; health; housing; community services; employment; and other significant expenditure. In so doing, the focus will be in relation to on-theground services.
The national framework will cover spending in relation to all funding sources, not just funding arising from the Commonwealth Grants Commission equalisation process. A report in accordance with the national framework will be provided to COAG annually, and an initial ‘stock take’ report will be provided for the first COAG meeting in 2009.
The Commonwealth will consult with agencies such as the Productivity Commission, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to determine their interest and possible contribution to developing the national framework, as well as possible ongoing involvement in the process. Jurisdictions will provide to the Commonwealth by 21 January 2008 feedback on issues discussed at the meeting, other issues they consider need addressing in this sub-program of work, and any background information regarding current jurisdictional reporting processes.
A further paper will be prepared by the Commonwealth Treasury and interested jurisdictions, outlining methodological issues and a forward work plan, for consideration by the Indigenous working group ahead of the March 2008 COAG meeting.
NOTE: The full communique, including Appendix A, is available as a PDF under 'downloads' on this page.