Page 2884 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 August 1991
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How does our ratio of private hospital beds compare with other States'? It is a quite simple question. The second question is: Do you agree with the statement I have just quoted - in other words, that there is an advantage to the budget by having more private hospital beds? Thirdly, if you do agree, what strategy are you pursuing to get to that point?
MR BERRY: The answer to the first question is that it is lower.
Mr Humphries: What is lower?
MR BERRY: The ratio of private hospital beds.
Mr Humphries: You said before that it was higher.
MR BERRY: No, I said that the public sector was higher. That means that the private sector is lower, and there is a good reason for that, as Mr Humphries well knows. He also knows that the only way to change the balance, from his philosophical direction anyway, is to squeeze the public sector. That is what they tried to do while they were in government. They tried to tighten up on the public sector to create an environment where the philosophical direction of the conservative government could swing some of the public sector beds into the private sector - in other words, make it attractive for an entrepreneur to set up a hospital in the ACT.
What was never publicised fully by the former Minister was the absence of demand for private hospital beds. There has always been a large number of beds which have not been taken up by the private sector. That cannot be avoided. There is no demand for a private hospital, and, if Mr Humphries is flogging that line, I think he is flogging a dead horse. You cannot force the private sector to open beds if they are not going to be used. I think that covers the public-private ratio, except that we have a different philosophical commitment in the Labor Party. We are about providing a strong public hospital sector and we will pursue that course while ever we are in government, in stark contrast to the conservatives opposite.
In relation to my opinion on the review team's report, it is the review team's opinion. I do not think Mr Humphries is entitled to ask my view on it, nor is he entitled to ask the - - -
Mr Humphries: The Government's view. What is the Government's view on a report it has received?
MR BERRY: It boils down to this, Mr Humphries: We have not expressed a view on that.
Mr Humphries: You have; you have expressed many views on it. You have adopted most of the report.
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