As Chairman of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee, Senator Ryan recently chaired the Committee’s inquiry into the government’s COAG health announcements. Further information about the inquiry, including the final report, can be found on the committee’s website.
Senator RYAN (Victoria) (6:35 PM) —I present the report of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee on COAG reforms relating to health and hospitals, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.
Ordered that the report be printed.
Senator RYAN —I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report.
Leave granted.
Senator RYAN —I move:
That the Senate take note of the report.
The evolving time limits we have have got shorter and shorter, so I will be as brief as I can. I will commence my comments by recording my thanks to the secretariat. This was a short inquiry into a very significant issue. The secretariat has worked tirelessly, and I think all members of the committee particularly appreciated their efforts over the last two weeks. This is a report into the government’s announcements regarding health reform, but they can more accurately be characterised as ‘announcements regarding hospital administration and funding’. It is in no way the most substantial reform since Medicare. It is focused entirely on hospitals—almost to the exclusion of health.
The government had numerous reports to draw on but needed to make a political announcement, and it did this rather than make a health announcement. We have heard that from a number of stakeholders, in particular, over the last two weeks. There is no better example of that than with respect to mental health and the government’s failure in that regard. This became clear at the inquiry. There is little detail available outside the intergovernmental agreement and little detail about what this will actually mean for patients in public hospitals across Australia. It is typical of Labor. This was all about inputs, processes and flow charts so beloved by our Prime Minister; it was not about patients. It was typical in its use of rhetoric to overstate the political case, but it let the detail slip. We do not know how many Local Hospital Networks will be set up, we do not know where they will be, we do not know their boundaries, we do not know the boundaries of the Medicare Locals, we do not know how these will interact with the Local Hospital Networks and we do not know the role of local clinicians and health professionals in both of these bodies.
What we do know, however, is that the Commonwealth Auditor-General does not have the power to audit the Local Hospital Networks, as these are creatures of state parliaments. Given the discoveries of the Victorian Auditor-General about the shenanigans that have been undertaken in certain Victorian public hospitals under the Victorian Labor government, this is a critical flaw in the plan, as the Commonwealth parliament will be able to exercise no oversight over these new bodies.
I have also made some personal additional comments regarding the structure of our health system. Despite the superficial nature of these alleged reforms, they still contain the potential to stifle the dynamic elements of our health system that we will depend on for future reform. The most important example of this in the past was undoubtedly the Kennett government’s introduction of casemix funding in Victoria in the 1990s. The very reform that this government is claiming as its own was pilloried by the ALP and then opposition leader Mr John Brumby when introduced. The then minister, the late Marie Tehan, was vilified by the Labor Party in Victoria and in Canberra. The hypocrisy of Premier Brumby and the Labor Party in this regard cannot go unnoticed. We have long memories, just as the Prime Minister does.