Page 4524 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 14 December 1993
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MR BERRY: Just wait patiently. Patience is not a virtue you have a lot of. That is Mr Connolly. For the centralised role of implementing Government policy in relation to enterprise bargaining, it is Mr Berry. In this case Mr Connolly is the Minister responsible. If there is an industrial dispute within the hospital system, or the health system, it is my responsibility. The strike by the VMOs is very much my - - -
Mrs Carnell: You said that it was not a strike.
MR BERRY: They are their words. The strike by the VMOs covers a number of issues. It is not about just the blank cheque that the doctors are demanding; it is about who controls the health system as well. When packages are worked out by local bargaining centres, they will be worked out in accordance with Government policy. They will be matters for those local bargaining centres to refer to the central coordinating group, and they will be dealt with in due course. If there are issues about Government policy to be determined within that framework in that area, then Mr Connolly will deal with them. As far as the VMOs are concerned, again I say to you that it is not only an issue about money but also an issue about control of the public hospital system.
Mrs Carnell: It is about control and power.
MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell used the words, "It is about control and power and money".
Mrs Carnell: Not much money.
Mr Connolly: Not much money! Just pay them!
MR BERRY: Just pay them anything they like - millions, potentially.
Mr De Domenico: You said half a million. The TWU want to save us $6.5m, and you have ignored them.
MR BERRY: This is the first time I have heard Mr De Domenico take the word of a union.
Mr Connolly: Apart from the AMA.
MR BERRY: Apart from the AMA. The AMA is all right. There has developed within the health system a situation with which I am dealing. There are very fair contracts on offer - contracts that have been endorsed by Mrs Carnell - because they set out a very fair process whereby disputed matters can be dealt with in a mediation and arbitration framework, a process which will lead to an end to the dispute.
For those doctors who want an end to the dispute, get on board, because we can make sure, as a result of your participating in those contracts, that the dispute will be settled by 28 February. That is, the mediation process will address all of the issues that it can and then an arbitration process will deal with the issues that are left over. It will be a fair process. The outcomes will be fair. We have said that we will cop the outcome, and we require those doctors who sign the contracts to cop the outcome too. Of course, that will bring us to the end of the dispute until the next time the contracts have to be negotiated.
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