Better Health and Education Services

Doorstop Interview

Transcript - Melbourne - 16 July 2004

E & OE

LATHAM:         Thanks for coming along. Yesterday, I outlined Labor’s plan, working with the States and Territories to save and restore Medicare. You can only do that if you’ve got a commitment to public health care. The announcement we make today outlines Labor’s commitment to public hospitals and public health care with 10 new Medicare licences for MRI equipment and machinery. The current Government, with Mr Tony Abbott as Health Minister, has got a commitment to private licensing and arrangements. We think it is better to build up our public hospitals as much as possible, to work with the States and Territories to have MRI equipment available in our public hospitals, available free of charge.

Today, we are outlining a cooperative plan for 10 new MRI licences where a Labor Government in the future will provide the Medicare arrangements, and the rebating, and working with the States and Territories who will provide the equipment and staffing arrangements so that this vital equipment and machinery, which does so much good in the detection of cancers and assessing soft tissue injuries and other problems, can be available in public hospitals at the 10 locations providing benefits for the Australian people as part of our commitment to build up public health care in this country. That’s the only way we can save Medicare in the future.

If we go down Tony Abbott’s path of private, private and private that’s not really supporting Medicare, it’s not saving Medicare, it’s not restoring the services and building up what the Australian people want, which is the universality of our public health care system. So this is an important announcement.

It is the first instalment, if you like, of the plan we outlined yesterday where Federal and State Labor can work together to ensure that we get the efficiency gains in health; we get a broader spread of services; we get more public funding and resourcing into our public hospitals, in particular. I’m delighted to be here with our shadow spokesperson Julia Gillard, with the State Minister Bronwyn Pike and the local members and representatives to make this announcement. I will now ask Julia to outline some of the details about the location of the 10 licences and the equipment that logically follows.

GILLARD:         As Mark said, since the time of the MRI scan scam forward, the Howard Government has had a preference for providing licences to private providers. What Labor has done, as part of our Working Together for Medicare Plan, is consult with State governments about which public hospitals should receive new Medicare rebate licences for MRI machines. There will be three in Victoria – one in Melbourne’s west, one in Melbourne’s east and the Bendigo Base Hospital [sic – Bendigo Healthcare Group’s acute campus]. There will be three in New South Wales – at the Illawarra Hospital, the Concord Hospital and the Gosford Hospital. There will be three in Brisbane – at the Logan Hospital, the Redcliffe Hospital and in Rockhampton and one in South Australia at the Lyell McEwin Hospital which is in Melbourne’s [sic - Adelaide] northern suburbs.

Each of these has been selected by the State Government because they will provide the maximum new access for people. Currently, people are going without scans or they are being referred to other hospitals. For hospitals that don’t have a machine at all this means that inpatients need to be put in the back of ambulances and transported long distances to get an MRI scan. That’s a cost to our State public hospital system it doesn’t need to bear and, for people who are getting scans as an outpatient, either they’ve had to pay private providers locally or queue on long lists at distant hospitals. These 10 new licences will spread access.

The licence here today in Melbourne’s west, to take an example, will mean people will be able to get outpatient access locally and not travel to the CBD to get scans. It is a great new initiative; it shows what can be done if a Commonwealth Government, a Latham Labor Government, working with the State Labor governments genuinely works together for Medicare.

JOURNALIST:     [inaudible] set up for the MRIs, the State Governments usually buy the actual machines [inaudible] $3 million – does it say what the licences do?

GILLARD:         It’s a partnership that consists of the State Government purchasing the machine and installing them in hospital premises and then the Commonwealth Government, the Latham Labor Government, would give licences which means when outpatient services are being provided they can be Medicare rebated. It lifts a burden off the State hospital system, allows the provision of more machines than would otherwise be the case, and means that the Commonwealth steps up and plays its proper role, which is allowing Medicare rebating for these kinds of outpatient services.

JOURNALIST:     How much will this cost?

GILLARD:         This is being done within the current funding envelope already in the Commonwealth budget for diagnostic imaging. The difference between us and the Howard Government is where these machines are being located and how the sites are being selected. We believe that they should be located where they can strengthen the public hospital system and provide a free point of access to people who need scans. Tony Abbott, and all of his predecessors, has preferred private providers which means our hospitals don’t get strengthened or supported. Our hospitals still have to transport inpatients in ambulances and people still end up with gaps and out of pocket fees when they go to the private providers.

LATHAM:         I’ll ask Bronwyn to say a few words.

PIKE:   This is just an example of what can happen when the Federal Government and the State governments work together cooperatively. We have a desperate need for MRI licences in the public hospital system here in Victoria so this is a very welcome initiative. For people in the west there has been no publicly funded MRI service ever. So having a rebatable system here in the west will make a huge difference for western health as it will for eastern health and for people in Bendigo. We very much welcome this initiative. It’s very important. It’s no secret that our public hospitals are under huge pressure and of course people come to the public hospitals because of the excellent service that they receive. Now, to get greater access to high quality up to date technology, which really is something that should be available to all Australians, is an initiative that we warmly welcome.

JOURNALIST:     Have you had trouble getting these licences under the current federal regime?

PIKE:   We’ve been talking to the current Commonwealth Government for a long time. We can't get a clear picture from them. They won’t give us a straight answer. They have favoured the private sector and now to have an initiative that really genuinely puts these resources back into the hands of the great proportion of people is something that we would really welcome.

JOURNALIST:     The Free Trade Agreement has just been passed in the Senate, the largest majority ever has –

LATHAM:         Sorry, I can't hear you.

JOURNALIST:     The question is what’s your reaction and are you pleased that we now have a Free Trade Agreement?

LATHAM: That’s a sign that the American Congress believes this deal is in the interests of the United States. The ongoing challenge for the Australian Parliament is to work out whether or not it is in Australia’s interests. I make two points in that regard: there’s no need to rush in; this agreement wouldn’t start until next year, so it’s six months away. The second point that needs to be made is that we need to get all the detail available and go through the democratic process of the assessment by the Senate committee in this country. Labor said some six months ago that the Australian people should have their say about the FTA. We embarked on a process whereby the Senate committee would put all the detail, the hundreds of pages, the [inaudible] letters, the complex matters, all need to be on the table before the Senate committee here can make a balanced judgment – is this good or bad for Australia? We are going to go through that process. It is important.

We owe it to the Australian people to get it right. I don’t want the Australian Parliament flying blind on something as important as this trade agreement. We’ve got to give the Australian people a guarantee that their Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will be safe for the future, a guarantee that Australian cultural content – our great Australian culture – will be safe for the future, that our intellectual property will be safe for the future. So we are going to go through that process and in a few weeks from now the Australian Parliament will receive the report from the Senate committee and that stage, once all the detail is known, and we’ve got all the facts on the table, the Australian Labor Party will be making its decision about this particular matter.

JOURNALIST:     Your new front bench recruit, Mr Beazley, has been in favour of a trade agreement. Now that you’ve got him next to you, so to speak, do you think you’ll be more keen to get a Free Trade Agreement going?

LATHAM:         We’re all waiting for the Senate report. It’s been looking at all the detail and of course once that Senate report is available and we can have a look at the future of our PBS, the future of cultural content, the future of intellectual property in Australia, of course, then through our shadow ministry and our caucus we can make a Labor Party decision accordingly.

JOURNALIST:     Mr Latham, the Orange Grove Shopping Centre in Sydney’s south west [inaudible] your old stomping ground, is facing closure. Westfield is pressuring to have that [inaudible] factory outlet closed down and possibly cost 450 jobs. What are your thoughts on that? Are you concerned about that?

LATHAM:         It is outside of my electorate and it’s outside my jurisdiction. It is a local and State planning matter of which I know very little. I just know what’s in the media about it and I occupy my day on Federal matters such as good health services for the Australian people. This is not a matter within my constituency or where I have any knowledge of what’s been going on.

JOURNALIST:     Wouldn’t it concern you that 450 Australian jobs are likely to go?

LATHAM:         I don’t know the circumstances of this local issue. It is a local and State planning issue outside my constituency so – I just don’t know enough about it to pass any comment. I’m sorry.

JOURNALIST:     Okay – if there is a little bit concern there would you call on Mr Carr [inaudible]

LATHAM:         I’m not calling on anyone to do anything on a matter which I know very little about. I’ve been talking about Federal-State Labor cooperation in health and education for the last couple of days. I honestly don’t enough about the matter you’re referring to to make any sort of an informed comment.

JOURNALIST:     [inaudible] Iraqi national [inaudible] terrorism activities?

LATHAM:         If people are being charged, then our legal system will obviously hold full force. If someone has done something wrong then we know the consequences of that. If the legal system is under way then it is inappropriate for politicians to be foreshadowing or judging what is going to happen. That is why we have the legal system in the first place.

JOURNALIST:     You’ve been touring around Melbourne’s west today; what’s your impression of it, generally?

LATHAM:         I am here at the hospital – that’s our first port of call and then we’re out in Julia’s electorate to launch her campaign – but I think it’s great that the hospital will be enhanced in the future by a Federal Labor Government, supporting it with additional resources and the western health service will be enhanced with a Medicare rebate licence for MRI services. We are here to support public health in the western suburbs. It is a region that needs more public health assistance and working with the State Labor Government is the best way to achieve that.

JOURNALIST:     Are you [inaudible] of the shortage of doctors in this area and what’s your policy in terms of getting more?

LATHAM:         We’ve got in our higher education policy plans to train extra doctors and ensure a build up of the medical profession in this country. Yesterday, in collaboration with the States, we gave a commitment to working hard on all the work force issues to get it right in the future and I hope that this region will be a beneficiary of that down the track – as that music breaks out!

JOURNALIST:     What is the role of overseas trained doctors?

LATHAM:         The fact that we have overseas trained doctors coming in is an indication that the work force planning by the Howard Government hasn’t been right and we’re much better off getting the planning right, providing Australian doctors for Australian health services, and that’s the objective of the Labor Government in the future. 

JOURNALIST:     Mr Latham, do you have any concerns about [inaudible]

LATHAM:         [inaudible]

JOURNALIST:     On the Free Trade Agreement, you are still leaving open the possibility that you won’t go ahead if you get elected.

LATHAM:         We’ve always said we’re going to judge this on its merits. We owe it to the Australian people to get it right. We are talking about matters where the stakes are very high. We are talking about the future of our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We are talking about the future of Australian cultural content, the things that our children will grow up with in the future. We are talking about the future of intellectual property and industrial development jobs in Australia. There is no rush in that the agreement doesn’t start until next year, six months away. We owe it to the Australian people to get it right. I think it would be anti-democratic to jump in ahead of the Senate committee report and make a judgment if you haven’t got all the facts, if you haven’t got all the details on the table. That’s why, in just a few weeks from now, we’ll have that Senate report and we can make our best informed judgment accordingly.

JOURNALIST:     So in other words you’re still open –

LATHAM:         I have answered your question –

JOURNALIST:     No, I don’t think you have, frankly.

LATHAM:         I have answered your question and if you want me to make a judgment now –

JOURNALIST:     No, I just –

LATHAM:         [inaudible] I’ve told you the reasons why that would be inappropriate and anti-democratic.

JOURNALIST:     I’m simply asking you if it is still open for you not to go ahead with it.

LATHAM:         I’ve given the answer. I think our position is very clear.

JOURNALIST:     The Federal Government is withholding more than [inaudible] freeway; would you release that money?

LATHAM:         We are waiting to see how this dispute between the Federal and State governments plays out, if it is resolved or not, and we’ll announce our policies

JOURNALIST:     [inaudible]

LATHAM:          Well, let’s just wait and see what happens. There is a lot of politics being played here and we’re not going to jump in midstream; we’re going to wait and see how the matter is resolved in the future.

Ends.