Health Services Amendment (Health purchasing Victoria) Bill 2012 – Second Reading Speech delivered in Parliament 6 February 2013
Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — It gives me pleasure to rise to speak on the Health Services Amendment (Health Purchasing Victoria) Bill 2012. As has already been indicated, the Labor Party state opposition will not be opposing the bill. However, I think it is important that we recognise the vital role that independent community health centres play in our health system. They are of course the primary provider or one of the main providers of state-funded primary care in the medical fields, in both dental and the allied health areas. There are something like a million visits to these services every year.
There have been consistently a number of efforts by governments of both persuasions to ensure that the legislative framework within which these services operate is optimised so that it can provide services of a key nature and also meet the expectations of the community. In 2008 the Labor government put in place provisions to protect community health centres and to maintain their fringe benefits tax and other charitable concessions — an important change in the context of the operations of what are services fundamentally aimed at assisting and benefiting the community. The changes to the Health Services Act 1988 were put in place to allow community health services to continue to be regulated under the act. However, their categorisation was changed to ‘independent’ to allow the exempt taxation arrangements to apply.
The bill effectively ensures that community health services can use Health Purchasing Victoria should they so wish.
I suppose that is the fundamental underpinning proposition here: that there is that opportunity, that choice, in circumstances where need arises or there is a desire in order to maximise the capacity to purchase through such arrangements. We support any such assistance that is provided to the community sector at a time when clearly there have been significant cuts imposed on the sector by the current Baillieu government.
Labor has a proud tradition of supporting community health, and I think the greatest support that we can offer in the context of the current environment is to recognise exactly why our health system finds itself in the predicament that it currently confronts. The Baillieu government has sought, with a lot of colour and movement but not much elegance, to confuse the community about why there have been cuts, the nature of the cuts that have been made and indeed who is responsible for those cuts. But there can be little confusion about where these cuts have come from.
As Josh Gordon from the Age newspaper indicated — someone who I know those on the other side of the house have great respect and regard for — the $616 million in cuts from health services that have been made by this government have made a very profound impact upon the changes.
Mr Dixon interjected.
Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — I enjoy the opportunity to engage with and talk about the broader budgetary context. If there is one thing that this minister would not understand, it is the context of a budget. Let us talk about it — those opposite increased state debt by 31 per cent in the last budget — —
Mr Dixon — On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the member is well and truly straying from the bill.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Morris) — Order! I uphold the point of order. The member for Tarneit has well exceeded the boundaries established by the member for Williamstown.
Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — I accept the white flag of surrender from those opposite. The truth is that federal funding for Victorian hospitals will rise by $900 million under the new agreement. Might I say, those opposite considered themselves to be so much better at negotiating that agreement than the Brumby government was at negotiating the previous agreement. I note that the current agreement incorporates a population recasting provision, a provision that did not exist prior to the brilliant negotiation of those opposite!
How brilliantly those opposite put themselves into a position where Victorians have every right to feel left out as a result of their belief that they are a heck of a lot more competent than they actually are. If you want any demonstration of their lack of competence or capacity, you simply need to see to the sorry state of Victorian patients under their custodianship.
The 2012-13 state budget was a recipe for disaster for health, slashing growth funding for hospitals by almost half of what was delivered in the previous year’s budget.
Mr Dixon interjected.
Mr Pallas — The Minister for Education, who is at the table, wants to talk about the bill.
We have heard nothing but an attempt to muddy the water from those opposite when they talk on the bill, and the minister at the table feels so compromised and embarrassed by the performance of this government that he does not want a true and substantial debate. I can understand why he would want to shut debate down. He must be squirming in his seat. We are not talking about education, but I hope we will have the opportunity to do so at some point in the near future.
Mr Pallas – I accept your wisdom on that point, Acting Speaker. Let us talk about health. Under the budget forecast we see cuts to the Department of Health of $134.1 million. We have seen a $482 million cut in the 2011-12 budget, taking the total cuts to $616 million. Victorians look everywhere — the Scarlet Pimpernel of health is effectively our current Minister for Health.
Mr Dixon — On a point of order, Acting Speaker, once again the member is well and truly straying from the bill. It has been a somewhat broad debate, but we are nowhere near the provisions of the bill at this stage. It is not even background; it is well and truly away from the objectives of the bill.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Morris) — Order! I again uphold the point of order, and I ask the member for Tarneit to link his comments to the bill on which the question rests today.
Mr Pallas — I will make an effort that I never saw from those opposite in that regard, Acting Speaker.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Morris) — Order! Members have been given a large degree of latitude in this debate essentially because of the breadth of the contribution by the member for Williamstown. I have allowed other members to follow that pattern, but no further.
Mr Pallas — I hope to maintain the tradition and the spirit in which this debate has proceeded.
When it comes to purchasing, a hospital’s purchasing power is directly dependent upon its capacity to make decisions about where spending occurs. When you cut health services, you directly impact upon the choices and decisions they make. Given that 56 out of 81 of our health services ran up deficits in 2011-12, as the hospital annual reports that were tabled in October revealed, they need all the help they can get when it comes to purchasing, but that is the help hospital services are just not receiving from this government.
The government sits back and watches, almost unconcerned about the circumstances our hospitals find themselves in. This is not some abstract process where a piece of legislation can simply resolve hospitals’ purchasing capacity.
The great problem is that hospitals lack funds. You can make as many efficiencies as you want, but when you cut $616 million from hospitals you effectively impact upon the services they can provide. You impact upon the quality of services, the number of hospital beds available and the level of bypass that directly occurs. You can talk about all the efficiencies you want when it comes to purchasing power, but the greatest impact upon purchasing power is funds, and that is where this government has fallen down and deserted the people of Victoria. It has consistently tried to confuse Victorians about where the principal responsibility, indeed culpability, lies. It lies with the cuts the government has put in place and its failure to manage the system. Victorians deserve better.