Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to standing order 74(5), I ask the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister Ludwig, for an explanation as to why answers have not been provided to questions on notice Nos 464 and 465 asked at the last estimates regarding superclinics.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Boyce for raising this issue. I will try to be brief in this respect. I am advised that the number of senate estimates questions on notice for the Health and Ageing portfolio has increased very significantly, from 190 in roughly 2008-09 to 567 in 2011-12, which is approximately a 198 per cent increase. It is not providing an excuse but an explanation as to the challenge. The health portfolio has tabled answers to almost all of the estimates questions on notice, something in the order of 99.5 per cent. The health portfolio has been very diligent in trying to manage and get out all of the answers to estimates questions. I am advised the three remaining questions involve verifying significant amounts of information. The government understands the need to meet those deadlines. In this instance, it has not. Although that explanation may not meet your expectations fully, we are working very diligently to meet the expectation of providing that information. The government will table the answers to these questions as soon as it is able to do so. I do not have a specific date, but we do have estimates on next week. I think that will be the second time you will be able to bring this to the attention of the health portfolio.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are in estimates next week, Joe.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do recognise that you are in estimates next week. I am advised that the government is working very diligently to get the information out. 99.5 per cent of them have been answered. I have indicated that the amount of information involved in dealing with the questions is significant and they will be tabled as soon as practicable.

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation.

It is quite fascinating, isn't it: there has been a huge increase in the number of questions up to 567; three remain unanswered; and two of those are about the diabolical mess that the superclinics are currently in. The questions are based on a table that was developed by Senator Fierravanti-Wells about 12 months ago, which the department in fact thanked her for because it simplified their task of telling us how the progress was going on the development of the superclinics.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells interjecting—

Yes, Senator Fierravanti-Wells, I was about to point out that in fact the answer is not about progress; it is about complete lack of progress. In some instances it is about a complete debacle. My office has tried the best it could to give the minister the opportunity to provide the answers to these questions. We have contacted Minister Roxon's office three times in the last two days. We were afterwards advised that the answers to the questions were not with the department—they were in the minister's office. I would assume that by the time they get to the minister's office the facts are there to be seen. It is not a matter of the government having to look for the data to do it; it is waiting in Minister Roxon's office for the minister to work out how to spin her way out of the appalling situation that the data will present, when and if we get it. Minister Ludwig is perfectly aware that next week is Senate estimates. Yes, we will be happy to see this information any time, but it is very hard not to draw the conclusion that this material is being deliberately held up in the minister's office in an attempt to stop the opposition querying, as closely as possible, the complete misspend of government moneys on superclinics.

Let us just have a look at the pathetic record that they have. We have the $5 million Northern Territory superclinic scrapped. It was scrapped—the one for Darwin—because they could not find anybody who wanted to run it. Minister Roxon has the immense hide to suggest that it is somehow the problem of the member for Solomon, Mrs Natasha Griggs. 'She should have given wider support to the project,' is what the minister is trying to say. Of course, the fact that no-one applied was not the minister's fault, was it? It is yet another example of the bizarre and politically motivated way that this government has gone about the rollout of superclinics ever since they were initially developed.

Let us look at the wonderful Redcliffe superclinic. I was pleased at the last Senate estimates to ask when that would be completed. It was May at the time and the answer was midyear. So I said, 'Do you think perhaps by June 30?' People were looking as though they were going to agree with that until I produced a photo of some scaffolding—that was what the Redcliffe superclinic looked like three weeks before it was due to open. Then suddenly 'midyear' became 'by the end of August' according to the very elastic datelines set by this government and by Ms Roxon. Suddenly, end of August was when the Redcliffe superclinic would be finished.

You may not be surprised to know, Mr Deputy President, that the Redcliffe superclinic is still not finished. It has in fact been the subject of potential court action. Work has stopped. The Queensland state health minister has not only refused to provide a $3½ million loan that his own Treasury said would be okay to provide to finish the work there, he has impugned the reputations of members of the foundation and the CEO. The local state Labor member—who is the patron of the foundation—has gone into hiding and refused to come out in support of the foundation. The state health minister even had the nerve to refer this matter to the CMC—the corruption commission in Queensland—which found within minutes that there was no case to answer; there was no corruption in the area.

What we have in fact is a ridiculous game of argy-bargy going on between Minister Roxon and the Queensland state government on the topic of the Redcliffe superclinic. Yet, just after the last federal election, there we had the Prime Minister, Ms Gillard, the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, the local member for Petrie, Yvette D'Ath, and the Queensland state Treasurer, Andrew Fraser, all parading around in Redcliffe with the big photo opportunity for the $20 million Redcliffe superclinic that would have been opened in June except that this government cannot sort out how to get a $3½ million loan approved or how to get it through. And the list goes on and on. In Tasmania, after a huge amount of work by Tasmanian senators and members, the government has finally admitted that one is not going to open there either. That was after they opened a brand new, wonderful superclinic in Hobart that had three GPs. It replaced a normal GP's practice that had three GPs. People were left wondering what was super about this clinic except the huge waste of money—the super waste of money—that went on turning a private GP's clinic into a different sort of private clinic with huge inputs of government funding along the way.

If GP superclinics are going to be the great panacea that this government claims they will be, why are they not where they were planned to go? I cannot even say where they are because most of them are not anywhere. The vast majority of them have not happened. If they are happening, they are well behind time or subject to potential litigation. So why are they not where they should be? It is because, if you look at a map, where they were positioned had absolutely nothing to do with need for medical services.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Try telling that to the people of Wanneroo.

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You look at the map and look at where they are electorally positioned, Senator Pratt, and you will see that I am right. There is not one superclinic planned between Brisbane and Gladstone.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Try telling that to the people of Perth.

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, I do not know that the people of Gympie who do not have medical assistance are very worried.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Boyce and Senator Pratt! Senator Boyce, could you direct your remarks to the chair and not across the chamber.

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I beg your pardon, Mr Deputy President. I do not think that people between Gladstone and Brisbane, who have one of the lowest ratios of medicos to patients in the country, would be particularly interested in the story of Perth. It would be good, I am sure, if there were one success story out of these superclinics, but I doubt it.

We get to the bottom of the real ideology behind this when we find out that, whilst the department of health is intending to evaluate the superclinics, they are not going to evaluate the effect of superclinics on local private practices. Quite frankly, this government does not want to know. This is part of trying to socialise medicine and to do so in areas where they think they will get their biggest vote for their buck—with nothing whatsoever to do with success.

I am appalled that the minister is holding up the answers to these questions in the way that she is. I can understand that she feels the need to, but her slipping and sliding and spinning and hiding caused this problem in the first place. If she came out and honestly told us what the issues were and what, if anything, she was going to do to fix them, we would not be in the situation that we are currently in. I would like to ask the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing to do his very best to ensure that we get prompt answers to those questions so that the matters can be pursued and so that taxpayers' money can be accounted for properly.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the response given by the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing. This is just another example of the debacle that has become health in this country. Minister Roxon has to rank amongst the most incompetent in the line of incompetent government ministers in the Gillard government. Not one day goes past without some problem occurring in this portfolio. What Senator Boyce said in relation to the GP superclinics typifies just how appallingly this woman has run that portfolio.

The problems that we are seeing with the Redcliffe GP superclinic are only the tip of the iceberg. It is very clear that at some point in time the Commonwealth knew that there was a major problem with the Redcliffe GP superclinic. My question to the government is: how long have you known and what have you been covering up in relation to the Redcliffe superclinic? You now know that the proverbial is going to hit the fan and you are taking as long as you can to keep it out of the public arena. That is what this is all about. This is about Minister Roxon not wanting to give out important information in relation to superclinics because she knows that we are now going to start, as Senator Boyce correctly said, examining the fine print, examining the detail, of not just Redcliffe but Sorell, Darwin and all the other debacles of this whole superclinic fiasco.

This table has been routinely provided. Indeed, I was the one that originally drew up the table which gave us a status of GP superclinics. The last one that we have is dated 19 May. The procedure that we have adopted is that, to facilitate the progress of questioning in the community affairs committee and to save the time of the committee, the department has provided us with an update on a routine basis. However, this time, it is the very question that is still outstanding. It is the very question about which Minister Ludwig says, yes, he is conscious of the fact that estimates are on next week and he is conscious of the fact that we need this answer. The point is that it has been sitting on the minister's desk. I would like to know how long it has been sitting on the minister's desk. Why has this not been released to us?

GP superclinics were the great part of the so-called health reform, all tied up with Kevin Rudd and Nicola Roxon running around the countryside in their hospital attire, looking like they were actually doing something to do with hospitals. Might I add as an aside, so much for the 3,000 or so new hospital beds that they promised around the countryside. In New South Wales we have only had 11 extra beds. So much for the thousands that they promised but have not delivered.

The philosophy behind the GP superclinics is what really underlies this government's philosophy in relation to primary care—that is, that shift away from the family doctor. We will shove everybody in, like the national health system, which of course has hardly been a success in other countries—

Senator Polley interjecting—

Yes, we have, Senator Polley. If you had been actually listening in these committees, where you sit for hours and hours, you would have heard some of the evidence that has been given by various people. Evidence has shown that some of the programs that this government is running are a deliberate attempt by this government to drive a wedge through private health and, most importantly, primary care and choice of doctor.

We were going to have about 29 or 30 GP superclinics. How many are actually up and running? Only a handful. But if you go onto the website of the Department of Health and Ageing you will see these little maps with dots everywhere. They are trying, duplicitously, to imply that this is where these superclinics are—all over the countryside. In fact, they are not. If you look at the various proposed superclinic sites, you will see that the majority of them—which it was promised would be delivered long before now—are all behind in terms of both their establishment and the nature of the services they are supposed to be delivering.

Redcliffe, for example, which Senator Boyce talked about, is going to demonstrate where the whole thing is going to unravel. Let me remind the Senate that most of the contracts that are given to these superclinics are for 20 years and that they are given to organisations, for the purchase of buildings or other facilities, from which the Commonwealth will not get back the resources. In effect, the government is subsidising organisations to make these purchases, often in circumstances where they are displacing established private GP services in the area.

To the minister I say that today's example and today's response to these questions is simply not satisfactory. It is very clear that the minister is hiding behind the delay. She knows that the detail of the Commonwealth's relationship with the Redcliffe Hospital Foundation, the various project plans, the budget, the financing requirements and the costs that were required by the various funding agreements, will demonstrate that the Commonwealth has not undertaken the appropriate scrutiny and the appropriate examination of this GP superclinic. It will demonstrate that the Commonwealth has not been keeping proper governance over this project.

This is the one that is now in the spotlight, but my question to the government is: if this is the problem with the Redcliffe superclinic, are delays with other superclinics—of which we do not yet know the details—for the same reasons? Those reasons being the lack of proper governance and what appears to be the lack of proper scrutiny by the Commonwealth. Minister, can I have your assurance that we are not going to get this answer at 9 am on Wednesday, when we are due to commence estimates? That would be the ultimate travesty but it is what I would expect of this government, because it is very clear that this government will resort to whatever means are necessary to keep proper information away from the Australian public.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Boyce be agreed to.

Question agreed to.