Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take the opportunity to correct the record of a contribution I made on Thursday, 25 June 2009, in responding to a question from Senator Humphries. The transcript shows that I said the Rudd government was providing $750 billion to state and territory emergency departments. Clearly my Queensland accent substituted a ‘b’ for an ‘m’. The figure is of course $750 million, which will assist with blockages in our emergency departments. To clarify: I also referred in the same answer to a $10 million contribution by the Rudd government to the ACT to provide for elective surgery. This $10 million is to be provided under the government’s emergency department funding. The ACT government has received a total of $9.1 million under the first two stages of the Rudd government’s elective surgery strategy. I ask that the record reflects these corrections.