Page 5156 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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It has made its position on the delivery of private hospital services very clear to the people of the ACT. It favours an expansion of expensive private hospital services - private hospital services which many of the people of the ACT just cannot afford. This piece of legislation ensures that the Government will be able to do that, because there will be no requirement under the legislation for the Government to provide a list of services such as is set out in the amendment which has been circulated in my name.
Mr Humphries put great weight on his argument that it was done by the New South Wales Labor Government, so it was all right, and referred to the New South Wales area health boards. Do the area health boards in New South Wales provide ambulance services? I suggest that they do not, and I suggest that the area health boards in New South Wales do not provide a range of other services either. So I think it is - - -
Mr Humphries: They do provide some.
MR BERRY: Yes, that is right; probably some. But what about - - -
Mr Humphries: Why were they not listed?
MR BERRY: What I suggest to you, Mr Humphries, is that they do not provide them all, and what you are setting out to do is to ensure that you have a free hand in cutting services to the people of the ACT, particularly to the people who cannot afford expensive private hospital services, because you have clearly demonstrated your commitment to the withdrawal of services from people who cannot afford those expensive private sector services. There is no question about that; that is clear to the community.
This is the old Liberal line of privatisation - "Leave it open so that we can privatise it". And, of course, the people who lose are the ones at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, as is always the case with the conservative policies of those opposite. What is most disturbing is the fact that the Residents Rally party members opposite are just sitting back copping this. Bernard Collaery might say that it is because the bureaucrats are running Gary Humphries, that he is not bright enough to work out what the bureaucrats are doing. But I know that Mr Humphries is quite bright enough to implement the Liberal philosophy and he is quite bright enough to slavishly follow the Priorities Review Board report on rationalisation of services to the community.
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