Page 4398 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
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MR HUMPHRIES: The fact is, Mr Speaker, that to suggest, as Mr Berry has suggested, that there are problems which are proved by this particular case is quite false. That is not the case. Mr Berry should be very careful before he comes into this place flaunting particular individual cases as examples of the tawdry and inaccurate points that he seeks to make as part of this debate.
Private Hospital Development
MRS NOLAN: Mr Speaker, my question is also to Mr Humphries in his capacity as Minister for Health. I would like to ask him why the Government is persisting with the development of a private hospital on the north side, given comments that have been around. John Langmore claims that it is going to cost us all more.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I thank Mrs Nolan for that timely question. Mr Langmore's comments of the last few days simply display the extent to which the ACT branch of the Labor Party allows ideology to flaw its thinking on economic issues. Dr McNicol, the national president of the Australian Association of Surgeons, rightly responded to Mr Langmore by saying, "a new private hospital would not cost the ACT taxpayers a single cent". He went on to say that a number of economic and health benefits for the Territory would flow from that decision. For example, he highlighted the fact that the revenue generated from the sale of the land was beneficial to the Territory, as were the creation of jobs in both the construction and staffing of the hospital, an influx of health clients, an introduction of new medical services and the increase in choice in the system.
Despite having the highest level of private health insurance of any community across Australia, Canberra has the smallest proportion of its acute hospital beds in private hospitals. What this means is that the people of Canberra are required to finance public hospital services proportionally larger than other States and Territories, thus placing an unacceptable burden on the ACT taxpayer. The Commonwealth Labor Government recognised this problem in 1986 and approved a trebling of private hospital beds from 91 to 270. Where was Mr Berry then? What was he saying about that? Nothing, of course. This reflects population growth projections through to that time. We are increasing that figure by a further 30 in line with population increases to the year 2000. That is hardly a dramatic number, I would have thought.
I understand that the Labor Party is threatening to withdraw approval from these new hospital beds if it is ever, God help us, returned to government. Let us be clear about what this means for Labor's priorities on health. By February 1992, the next opportunity that this rabble opposite will have a chance to form a government, I expect
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