Page 674 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 May 1992
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AUSTRALIAN HEALTH MINISTERS CONFERENCE
Ministerial Statement
Debate resumed.
MR BERRY: Labor is committed to a strong public hospital system. You only have to look to the United States to see what goes wrong with a hospital system that is dominated by the private sector.
Mrs Carnell: It is the same speech as you used last time.
MR BERRY: The answer is the same. Why do you keep asking the question if you know the answer? All you have to do is look to the United States to see what is wrong with having a hospital system which is dominated by the private sector. What we are going to do, of course, is to make sure that everybody has reasonable access to a public hospital system. We are not opposed to the private sector. We are not opposed to the private hospital system as such, but what we are not going to do is force poor people out of the public hospitals and into the private sector.
Mrs Carnell, of course, is on side with entrepreneurs who want to make a quid out of private hospitals. That is fair enough; she is entitled to do that. That is the background of the Liberal Party and we expect them to do that. She also supports the private insurers because they want to make a quid out of it. The Liberals support people making a quid out of people at any time. The Liberals are also attempting to reduce the disposable income of ordinary Australians by forcing them into private hospital insurance and private hospitals. That is the position of the Liberal Party. I have given her the answer.
The Labor Party, on the other hand, supports equality of access to a strong public hospital system. We support Medicare and will continue to support it, because it is a good system.
Mrs Carnell: So do we. As I said in my speech, we support Medicare.
MR BERRY: They support bits and pieces of Medicare, provided that that is only for the poor. That is the system that the Liberals support - the public system for the poor. Anyway, we have now clarified the position between us both. The reason there is a public system is that the private sector cannot provide it and will not provide it because the profit motive gets in the way of it. The public hospital system is where most resources are spent in this country, for good reason. Governments repeatedly have ensured that the prime objective is access for all Australians to the public hospital system. The Liberals, on the other hand, propose that we force them into the private sector. Well, we are not going to do that.
The aged care question is a problem because - - -
Mr De Domenico: No, no; not force them. We just want to make the queues smaller and get them healthier quicker.
MR BERRY: Can you people not sit still and listen?
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