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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 136 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

The government's policy response is at two levels-it is a complex debate, but it needs to be addressed because it is a complex issue. We will, first and foremost, negotiate harder with the federal government to get them to recognise that the ACT is a jurisdiction that requires special assistance to attract additional GPs. We are not like Sydney and Melbourne. We are more like an outer metropolitan area or a regional area, and federal policies should reflect that in encouraging GPs to come to this city.

The Commonwealth could do a number of things. Firstly, it could increase the level of the Medicare rebate. That would be the most appropriate policy response and would see the Commonwealth recognise its responsibilities. Secondly, if the Commonwealth felt that was untenable, it could permit the territory to bulk-bill patients who show up at the emergency departments of our hospitals and pass that cost to the Commonwealth, where it rightly belongs. Thirdly, it could permit after-hours GP clinics on the campuses of our public hospitals, where they could bulk-bill.

There are a number of responses open to the Commonwealth. These are issues the state and territory health ministers have put on the table. These are issues the Commonwealth is saying today it is not even prepared to discuss with state and territory ministers.

Mr Smyth made some political capital in his speech about Labor's commitment to after-hours clinics. I think Mr Smyth needs to read the policy closely because it says quite clearly that we will do this, but it also acknowledges that, under current Commonwealth/territory funding arrangements, it is not possible to have these clinics on the campuses of public hospitals. That is on the web site.

That is why the first priority for me as Minister for Health is to get the Australian Health Care Agreement finalised, to get it negotiated and to do everything I can to get the Commonwealth to accept its responsibilities and collaborate with us in addressing the issues that we face as a community.

Only once I know the details of the Australian Health Care Agreement, which is a bilateral agreement between us and the Commonwealth, will I be in a position to know what other responses the ACT government needs to put in place. The responsible course of action is to not prejudice or undermine our negotiating position by saying that we will pick up the costs of what are federal responsibilities and let the Commonwealth off the hook.

My responsibility is to ensure that the territory live up to its obligations and the Commonwealth live up to theirs. That is what I will undertake as we head up to these negotiations, which will occur between now and the end of June, when the agreement expires. Only then, when I know what costs the Commonwealth is prepared to meet in the new Australian Health Care Agreement, will I be in a position to outline the further response of the ACT government. (Extension of time granted.)

In relation to Mr Smyth's amendment, it is essentially a bit of political posturing. He seeks, first and foremost, to remove any criticism of the federal Liberal government's policy failure, which is at point 3 in Mr Hargreave's motion. He seeks to have that point deleted from the record, even though it is accepted around the country that this is one of the most expensive public policy failures ever in the history of federation-$2 billion spent on the private health insurance rebate.

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