❓ Mr. Taylor questions the Minister for Health about the potential impact of transitioning St John Ambulance services to in-house government provision. The Minister defends the current contracted service, highlighting its performance and cost-effectiveness, while criticising the Labor Party's policy to bring the service under government control.
AnsweredQoN 954Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH — ST JOHN AMBULANCE —
SERVICE CONTRACT
954. Mr M.H. TAYLOR to the
Minister for Health:
I acknowledge the teacher and students from Waroona District
High School in the electorate of the member for Murray–Wellington.
I understand that the government contracts St John Ambulance
to deliver ambulance services in Western Australia. Can the minister please
explain to the house what the effect would be if these services were delivered
in-house by government employees?
SERVICE CONTRACT
954. Mr M.H. TAYLOR to the
Minister for Health:
I acknowledge the teacher and students from Waroona District
High School in the electorate of the member for Murray–Wellington.
I understand that the government contracts St John Ambulance
to deliver ambulance services in Western Australia. Can the minister please
explain to the house what the effect would be if these services were delivered
in-house by government employees?
AnswerView source ↗
I
want to talk about the great work done by St John Ambulance in this state. St
John Ambulance is the only ambulance service in Australia that is provided
outside of government. We contract those services to St John. I want to go
through some of the results that St John Ambulance has been able to achieve in
Western Australia. The most important thing is the time it takes to get to an
emergency, which is called a median code 1 response time. Western Australia is
well below the national average at 8.8 minutes. Next is New South Wales at 10.8
minutes, Victoria at 11.1 minutes and Tasmania at 11.4 minutes, so WA is easily
the best. Then we need to look at the expenditure per person. What does it cost
us to get these best results in the whole of Australia? In Western Australia,
it costs $83.81 per person, which is the lowest expenditure per person of any
state in Australia, with the national average being $113.90 per person. Once
again, we are a long way below the national average.
The last result is satisfaction. In Western Australia, the
satisfaction rate for people receiving ambulance services is 99 per cent, which
once again is the highest in the nation. What would happen if that was not the
case and Western Australia decided that instead of contracting out that
service, we would bring it in-house? Why might I be asking that question? The
reason I am asking that question relates to the Labor Party's platform
on provision of service. Members might get a suspicion of what I am about to
say from what I said yesterday about contracting out services. The Labor Party
says that it will not extend any contract for privatised hospitals or services
and that it will negotiate early termination of those contracts. With regard to
ambulances in particular, paragraphs 41 and 42 of the platform state that the
Labor Party will consider bringing the service currently provided by St John
Ambulance under the control of the state government. To do that, it will talk
to the stakeholders, including, of course, United Voice. The left-wing union
running the Labor Party totally dominates all the actions it takes. That is the
policy of United Voice, should Labor be brought back into government. That is
what it lobbied me for for years when we first got into government. We said no,
we would not do it. United Voice will do it under Labor because it is so
dominant over Labor. What will the cost to the taxpayers of Western Australia
be? It will be something in the order of $75 million. We have already come
across $500 million for getting rid of contracts with our hospitals. When the
Labor Party adds up its costs for the election, Mr Treasurer, we should
remember that it is at least $500 million for the hospitals and now another $75
million for St John Ambulance. It is just racking up the dollars. When Labor
members sit on the other side of the chamber and criticise our debt levels, and
they intend to put in policies that will cost us well over half a billion
dollars to get them back, it shows a group that is not fit to govern in this
state.
want to talk about the great work done by St John Ambulance in this state. St
John Ambulance is the only ambulance service in Australia that is provided
outside of government. We contract those services to St John. I want to go
through some of the results that St John Ambulance has been able to achieve in
Western Australia. The most important thing is the time it takes to get to an
emergency, which is called a median code 1 response time. Western Australia is
well below the national average at 8.8 minutes. Next is New South Wales at 10.8
minutes, Victoria at 11.1 minutes and Tasmania at 11.4 minutes, so WA is easily
the best. Then we need to look at the expenditure per person. What does it cost
us to get these best results in the whole of Australia? In Western Australia,
it costs $83.81 per person, which is the lowest expenditure per person of any
state in Australia, with the national average being $113.90 per person. Once
again, we are a long way below the national average.
The last result is satisfaction. In Western Australia, the
satisfaction rate for people receiving ambulance services is 99 per cent, which
once again is the highest in the nation. What would happen if that was not the
case and Western Australia decided that instead of contracting out that
service, we would bring it in-house? Why might I be asking that question? The
reason I am asking that question relates to the Labor Party's platform
on provision of service. Members might get a suspicion of what I am about to
say from what I said yesterday about contracting out services. The Labor Party
says that it will not extend any contract for privatised hospitals or services
and that it will negotiate early termination of those contracts. With regard to
ambulances in particular, paragraphs 41 and 42 of the platform state that the
Labor Party will consider bringing the service currently provided by St John
Ambulance under the control of the state government. To do that, it will talk
to the stakeholders, including, of course, United Voice. The left-wing union
running the Labor Party totally dominates all the actions it takes. That is the
policy of United Voice, should Labor be brought back into government. That is
what it lobbied me for for years when we first got into government. We said no,
we would not do it. United Voice will do it under Labor because it is so
dominant over Labor. What will the cost to the taxpayers of Western Australia
be? It will be something in the order of $75 million. We have already come
across $500 million for getting rid of contracts with our hospitals. When the
Labor Party adds up its costs for the election, Mr Treasurer, we should
remember that it is at least $500 million for the hospitals and now another $75
million for St John Ambulance. It is just racking up the dollars. When Labor
members sit on the other side of the chamber and criticise our debt levels, and
they intend to put in policies that will cost us well over half a billion
dollars to get them back, it shows a group that is not fit to govern in this
state.
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