Page 1643 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 18 May 1994
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Mrs Carnell, the Government views very sympathetically what those two not-for-profit facilities have been doing in this town over the years, but has great qualms about what it would mean to say, "Let us bring in the for-profit driven people to provide this service". Potentially, that would undermine those two community based hospitals. It is a very fundamental issue of public policy. But I am unaware of any proposal from the private sector to do that, and the suggestion of a cardiac unit being opened by the private sector in Canberra is, on the best advice available to me, totally fanciful. It simply would not work.
MR DE DOMENICO (11.42): Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise briefly to comment on some of the remarks made by Mr Connolly. The motion states:
That this Assembly welcomes the back-flip by the Government in approving the opening of new private hospital beds at John James Hospital and welcomes the signal that the Government will now pay more attention to the private health sector.
There is very little in what Mr Connolly and Mrs Carnell said that one can disagree with. It seemed to me that both were talking about the word "balance". That is what this motion is all about. We are saying that under the new Health Minister, Mr Connolly, the Government is finally taking into account the balance of benefits between the public sector and the private sector.
I think that all members of this Assembly would welcome the fact that finally - and I am not suggesting a conversion on the road to Damascus, because I think Mr Connolly still has not been to Damascus - the Government, under Mr Connolly's stewardship in the health portfolio, is looking at a balanced viewpoint in health delivery in the ACT. Yes, it is true that in certain areas - and one I experienced yesterday - the ACT has facilities second to none in the public sector.
Mr Berry: And which you did not have to hand over any money for. But if you had gone up the road you would have had to.
MR DE DOMENICO: I will take on that interjection, Mr Berry. Yes, as ratepayers, taxpayers and Medicare levy payers, as you and I both are, we did pay money across. If you are going to interject, get it right. No furphies; get it right.
Let us get back to the motion at hand. No-one can disagree with balance between private facilities and public facilities. Mr Connolly also tried to talk about the press release that Mr Kaine and I issued yesterday about Tuggeranong. What did the press release say? It told us what the facts are. The facts are that there are only three - and we are being very liberal by saying that there are three - publicly paid doctors operating out of the Tuggeranong Health Centre. It is a fact. How many publicly paid doctors are there operating out of public facilities in Belconnen? Sixteen. That is another fact. That is what the press release said. It went on to say that - - -
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