Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Colleagues, I think I should welcome to the Senate former senator Zed Seselja, who I see in the public gallery. His former colleagues may not have welcomed him, but I thought I should do it just in case he missed out! It's very nice to see you back here. I only ever see you in the night-time on television. It is good to see you are out and about during the day!

This, colleagues, is an issue—as all of us know—that is unique to the Australian Capital Territory. It arises from a decision of the Australian Capital Territory government and, of course, it is and should be a matter for the people of the Australian Capital Territory. The decision reflects the unique nature of the ACT's public hospital system, a small jurisdiction that only has two acute public hospitals. It would be highly unusual for the federal parliament or this Senate to launch an inquiry into a matter that entirely relates to a decision of a state or territory government.

Of course, under the National Health Reform Agreement, state and territory governments are wholly responsible for the operation and management of public hospitals within their jurisdiction. That responsibility includes decisions around using private or not-for-profit providers to operate public hospitals. Under the National Health Reform Agreement, the Commonwealth government pays its share of every bit of activity that happens in a public hospital. The Commonwealth government also pays for public patients being treated by private providers, such as the Calvary hospital.

But the government does not intervene in these sorts of decisions. The states and territories are the system managers of their public hospital systems, and that includes responsibility for the purchase and operation of public hospital sites. So this is entirely a matter for the state and territory governments. The National Health Reform Agreement recognises that state and territory governments are indeed the managers of their own public hospital systems. That's all I have for you.