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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1466 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Mr Humphries tried to create the impression that this member is opposed to private hospitals. Absolute rubbish! I have no difficulty with the private hospital system operating in the marketplace. That is their business. It is a matter of fact that private hospitals make a contribution to the provision of health services throughout this country. What I am concerned about, and will fight to the death on, is the diminution of the public system as a means of costs shifting. It should never be said again, and cannot ever be said, that this member or any members of the Labor Party are inherently afflicted with some mad opposition to the private health system. That would be quite untrue. For Mr Humphries to say it again would be an act of dishonesty.

I have suspicions about this private hospital system. I think I understand what Mrs Carnell is up to in relation to the issue. What I am concerned about as a Canberran is the effect that this new private hospital might have on existing private hospitals and their viability. It seems to me that they do not care about this. I am concerned about it, because that is an issue that obviously has not been looked at by this Government. You cannot inject 100 extra beds into the ACT health economy and expect it not to affect people. It will affect the existing private hospitals. It will affect the existing public hospitals. The extent of the effect will be discovered by this committee of inquiry.

Mr Speaker, this is a sensible inquiry. The urgency of it certainly came to me when I was notified by officials that the Government was about to sign the contract. There had been no open consultation with the community about what the Government intended in relation to this private hospital, and it was time that the community became aware of it. Mrs Carnell now seeks to blindfold the committee of inquiry again by striking out other issues which may be covered up by the signing of contracts. She gave a list of contracts that may be signed for the building of this hospital. I would like to know the contracts that remain to be signed in relation to the provision of services by that hospital and the contractual arrangements between the Government and the provider of those services in that hospital. Let us not forget what happened in Port Macquarie and how much that has cost the New South Wales Government.

All of these issues have to be closely scrutinised. I remind members again of the sneaky way that Mrs Carnell approached the signing of the contract after the matter of the committee emerged. When the committee of inquiry emerged, Mrs Carnell found out about it and signed the contract to prevent the committee from looking at those issues. It is as clear as a bell. That is proven by the fact that the Canberra Hospital advised the local community that they were negotiating with Health Care of Australia and asked the community for their input in relation to the matter. Two days afterwards, coincidental with the emergence of my move for this inquiry, Mrs Carnell quickly signed the contract to stop all of us, each member in this Assembly, from finding out anything about those contracts. That was her intention.

I do not accept that we are prohibited from finding out what little secrets are buried in those contracts. I will be going after those secrets to make sure that the community finds out. I expect that Mrs Carnell will observe the same standards as she once observed in relation to these matters. I thank members for their support. (Extension of time granted) Members can support or not support the date for reporting which has been moved by Mrs Carnell. I am indifferent about it. Basically, we will cop the call. Her move to strike out "further contracts" is just another attempt to stop each member of this Assembly from

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