21 June 2011

The Gallagher Agenda

| johnboy
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Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has announced what she wants to get done in the next 12 months:

ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has today outlined the Government’s priorities in 2011-12 across eight key service delivery areas, with 52 specific projects and 51 measurable targets.

In a Ministerial Statement to the ACT Legislative Assembly, the Chief Minister has set out her priority areas in transport, planning, health, education and climate change, many of which which are directly linked to the outcomes of the ‘Time2Talk: Canberra 2030′ community consultations which occurred last year.

“A liveable, sustainable city, timely access to health care, more housing options, better public transport, a robust local economy, and improvements in public safety are just some of the priorities that we will be actively addressing over the coming year. We have a vision of Canberra as a lifelong learning capital, and are focused on growing the tertiary education sector, and we will invest in building a skilled workforce, fostering innovation in business, research and economic development.

“This Government is intent on ensuring that there is help for those most in need in our community, and that Canberrans are able to fully participate in community life. We will do this through targeted assistance for those most vulnerable.

Katy promises to let us know how she’s going on that in six months time. Also known as the summer dead zone.

RiotACT has requested the full list of priorities and will let you know when we hear anything.

UPDATE: Whinge and you shall receive. We now have a copy of the Ministerial Statement:

The Government’s priorities are:

o To ensure that Canberra is a liveable, sustainable city

o That its people enjoy timely access to healthcare

o That there is help for those most in need

o That there are housing options for all Canberrans

o That Canberra people have skills for life and for our economy

o That we have a robust local economy and a balanced tax system

o That there is improved access to and use of public transport, and

o There is continued improvement in public safety

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“That its people [the governments?] enjoy timely access to healthcare.”

Leaving the “its people” comment aside, I think that Ms Gallagher should focus on the outcomes for people of that healthcare rather than the time.

Setting targets on how long it takes to get healthcare might not be the best way to go. The UK example of gaming in their health system is interesting (such as here: http://www.publicservices.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/hood_bevan.ppt#280,35,Slide 35). Some healthcare providers become focused on meeting their targets, rather than providing quality care.

Can’t wait to see how we measure these principles.

It’s like a washing machine roaring through the soak and wash cycles and ready for the SPIN cycle in 365 days.

Overall, I think it’s a great idea. It could really make it possible to see if they have achieved what they set out to do.
HOWEVER, the info shown so far is a bit vague. It mentions 51 measureable targets, but we have not seen these. The Ministerial statement has things like: ‘Increase student accomodation places’ which is too vague. Is one extra place enough to tick that one off? You’d need to be more specific.
However, it also has ‘11,000 elective surgery procedures in 2011-12 FY’, which is easy to measure to determine if they have met their goal.
We really need to see the 51 measureable targets, hopefully listed in SMARTer-style which can truly be evaluated as ‘yes’ or ‘no’.Then they can transparently be measured against their word. I say, bring it on!

Unless something actually gets done…………………..it’s just the usual crap they roll out until the next election, when they bring out new crap.

Yair – gets my vote.

Issuing a media release about things that are going to happen one day really differentiates her from the broken promises and inaction of Stanhope.

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