Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to comment on the Tasmanian Labor government’s administration and specifically to say that, in my view, it is a frightening dress rehearsal of how a Rudd Labor government would operate if it wins this year’s election. The Tasmanian Labor government is embarking on a 10-year nearly $1 billion replacement of the Royal Hobart Hospital, which may or may not be a grandiose waste of money, while it wants to close down two very small hospitals by comparison at Ouse and Rosebery, despite their isolation. It has also recently announced a $5 million upgrade for the George Town Hospital redevelopment. In May the state Labor government announced as part of their primary health plan for Tasmania the closure from 20 September this year of sub-acute beds at the Rosebery District Hospital. Few other details were announced. The state government also announced that the hospital at Ouse would close with in-patient and aged care beds being shifted to New Norfolk, leaving the former hospital and aged care home with respite beds, a day centre, on-call facilities and a room for GP visits. The aged care beds are being removed at Ouse by truck and the rooms locked. The first bed was removed on 9 July—separating residents from their families.

I want to put on the record the Tasmanian budget figures which makes it clear that Rosebery District Hospital has a deficit of some $241,786 or just 17.14 per cent of the latest budget. Compare that with the St Helens Hospital where the deficit is 28 per cent of this financial year’s budget or with the Flinders Island multi-purpose centre which has a cost overrun of almost 43 per cent. Yet in Rosebery we have a company, whose name is Zinifex, employing many hundreds of Tasmanians that pays approximately $18 million in payroll tax and royalties to the state government. Yet the government cannot find $240,000-odd to allow the hospital at Rosebery to continue. Likewise, what are the facts with respect to the Ouse District Hospital? The Ouse hospital rates as the second-best performing district hospital and aged care facility in Tasmania with a deficit this last financial year of $106,766 or just 7.12 per cent of the 2007-08 budget. The truth is that the Rosebery and Ouse hospitals provide vital health services for their region and do not do too badly economically. But this state government is treating them with disrespect and an arrogance the like of which has not been seen before. People in remote communities do not deserve to be treated like last frontier pioneer settlers. This is the 21st century, and their taxes should have the same currency as the taxes paid by the residents of Hobart.

So, who is next on the state government hit list? While the state Minister for Health may deny any plans for further regional hospital rationalisation, it is apparent that there will be future cuts and closures, given that Ouse and Rosebery are among the top performing regional hospitals in Tasmania. Who will be next? I recently went with the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team from Sorell down to the Tasman Peninsula where I visited the Tasman Multi-Purpose Health Centre, and then later in the day I visited, with Ben Quin, the federal Liberal candidate for the Lyons electorate, the multipurpose health centre at Oatlands. I have also received anonymous calls from the Beaconsfield multipurpose centre expressing extreme concern about the fears they have with regard to future funding from the state government. Will it be the Flinders Island, King Island, Deloraine, St Helens, Beaconsfield or the Midlands multipurpose centre? Will it be New Norfolk, Campbell Town, Smithton or even St Marys? All of those have reason to be concerned. I know that the people at Oatlands and some of these other district hospitals are scared witless because they do not know who is next under the state Labor government’s administration of health services in our state of Tasmania.

Is all this necessary, especially given the $45 million a year windfall the state will enjoy after the Prime Minister’s announcement of the Mersey hospital intervention at Latrobe near Devonport? Freed-up state health funds should be diverted to keeping Ouse and Rosebery hospitals fully functional. That should be a priority. What about the angst and trauma among the elderly residents and their families specifically at Ouse? It is so unnecessary. I attended a rally firstly at Rosebery on 19 July together with the federal Liberal candidate for Lyons, Ben Quin, and the state Lyons MP, Rene Hidding, the former leader. That rally at Rosebery was well attended with over 200 people rallying to the cause to say, ‘Save our hospital.’ Workers from the Zinifex mine came out to join the rally and say, ‘We are with you.’ In fact, we had hard-core unionists at that Rosebery rally who said that Labor was dead politically on the west coast of Tasmania if state Labor downgraded the hospital.