Page 1804 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
tendering for that work, to apply to be the primary health care network, but none of the programs that the Medicare Local are currently delivering for the ACT government will continue.
It is such a shame because we have just got them to the point, I think, after the last couple of years, where they are actually making a difference. They are established as an organisation, they have staff on board, they have created the partnerships and they are doing the work with organisations like beyondblue and the Heart Foundation. They are working on the human services blueprint with the government. They are doing the work that is needed in the hospital to delineate between patients that are coming to the hospital that do not need to come to the hospital and how they can be cared for in general practice.
All of this work is at risk by the decision of the Abbott government. I think it is one that this Assembly should reject. It is not going to be good for the primary healthcare system here. It is not going to be good for the healthcare system as a whole. It will place more pressure back on the hospitals, which is something that we are trying to reduce, not encourage.
For an organisation that we all speak so highly of in terms of Mr Hanson’s presentation—I note he speaks highly of the staff—there are 60 staff there all potentially losing their jobs on 1 July next year. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot support the individual staff but then say, “Yeah, let’s push forward with what the commonwealth government wants to do,” because that will remove 60 jobs from the Medicare Local. They will not exist. They will not be service deliverers. That is exactly where they have been building up.
I met with the Medicare Local last week. I do not know whether Mr Hanson has met with them recently. But they are now going to have to spend the next 12 months winding back, essentially trading down, because they cannot, from a good governance point of view, operate as though there are no problems and then turn the tap off on 1 July next year.
There is no assurance that the Medicare Local will become the primary healthcare network. I am already aware of probably three or four private and NGO organisations that are interested in tendering for that work in a role which remains undefined. I can honestly stand here as the health minister and probably the most experienced person in this chamber on health matters and say that this is not a good step forward for the ACT health system. To support Mr Hanson’s amendment would be to support the destruction of a local organisation that has spent the last two to three years building up its capacity, its reputation and the services it delivers and put, potentially, 60 people out of work. That is what Mr Hanson is asking us to do today, and it is not something that we will agree to.
I also understand that in the jurisdictions where there is only one Medicare Local—the Northern Territory and Tasmania—their Liberal governments are actually supporting them to be maintained as a Medicare Local in that jurisdiction. Those premiers have the courage to actually say, “This is the wrong thing to do,” and want to advocate for change to the decision. But, unfortunately, here we have an opposition that is just going to accept whatever Tony Abbott says and hope that it works all right.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video