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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4963 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Another issue of concern was cross-subsidisation. Mrs Carnell says, "We will never do that. It would not be in our interest to do that". I can tell you, Mrs Carnell, that Calvary pays $87 per hour for work in biomedical engineering at the Canberra Hospital. And guess what? The new private hospital is to be charged only $47 per hour, by direction.

Mrs Carnell: By whom?

MR BERRY: By direction. No subsidies? Here is a subsidy, a very clear one. It will be $87 per hour for Calvary and $47 per hour for the new private hospital for biomedical services. This private hospital was unnecessary in the health landscape in the ACT. It is a big ticket item that Mrs Carnell has seized upon. It is the same ideology that drove Gary Humphries when he decided upon a private hospital adjacent to Calvary some years ago, which I happily blocked. This private hospital will change the way services are delivered in the ACT in the future. As a result of this new hospital, I predict that health services to ACT residents will cost a lot more, because that is the nature of the business. It is about attracting people and coercing people into the business in order that the organisation can profit as a result of the services.

The Chief Minister goes to great lengths to criticise my understanding, which she calls bias, of health care services in the ACT. It is not bias; it is understanding that I have in relation to health care service, and I have a commitment to the public sector. To you, that might show itself as bias, because you cannot break me on it. I am not going to change. That commitment will remain. It is the same commitment, Mrs Carnell, as you had to providing methadone in private pharmacies when you sat on a committee considering the matter.

Mrs Carnell: You told me that was a conflict of interest.

MR BERRY: It was a conflict of interest, in my view.

Mrs Carnell: Do you have a conflict of interest on this one, if it is the same thing?

MR BERRY: I do not own a health business; you do. There are some differences that most people could work out.

Mrs Carnell: You just said it was the same thing.

MR BERRY: If you want to raise a conflict of interest issue, we can discuss that. You are saying that I have a bias because I had a particular view about health care when I sat on this committee. I say to you that I am no different to you. You had a particular bias when you sat on a committee concerned with the provision of methadone from private pharmacies. Other members in this place suffer the same problem. They have views. You cannot be viewless in relation to service in this Territory when you sit on a committee. It is the same for somebody who lives here and pays rates or rent. It is a bit hard to avoid having a view.

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