Page 6410 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991

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Hector Kinlochs statement at time of tabling of "Beds" Cie. 2

It is clear that we have a top-heavy administration not only of our hospital system, but also of our entire health-care system. 1 N.S.W. health-care systems which cater for populations of 500,000 appear to be far more efficient in terms of administration and bureaucracy. 2 A health-care area of 1 m. might be more appropriate. Whatever the number, I am in little doubt that we should try to negotiate with New South Wales to create a much larger health-care administration which would include not only the A.C.T. and the South East Region but also the health-care facilities of towns and country areas, including adjacent shires, and such towns and their peripheries as Batemans Bay, Braidwood, Bungendore, Cooma, Goulburn, Queanbeyan and Yass. Batemans Bay, in particular, should be considered, for health-care purposes, as almost an extension of the A.C.T. Might Moruya and Narooma also be considered in the same light? Should this proposed area go even so far as Cootamundra and Wagga Wagga?

In welcoming the recommendation of the Committee to conduct an inquiry into this matter, I would like to see an exploration of the possibility of some kind of Joint A.C.T. and N.S.W. Board of Health for the proposed area or areas. Already there are co-operative discussions in the South East Region related to the needs of the frail aged, but these negotiations now need to be much wider in scope.

1 Consider the written and oral evidence of Dr. J. Butler of the ANU. 2 Consider the informal advice given to us by both of the N.S.W. health-care centres we visited.

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