❓ The Minister for Health addresses concerns regarding the potential sale of Joondalup Private Hospital to overseas investors, emphasizing the government's commitment to prioritizing patient interests and criticising the previous government's privatisation policies.
AnsweredQoN 1216Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Can the minister advise the House of the ramifications to the State of the sale of the Joondalup Private Hospital? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
The Department of Health is in the process of conducting due diligence over the proposed new purchasers of the Joondalup Private Hospital. The State, under the contract that it has with the current owners of the Joondalup Private Hospital, has the right to veto any change in ownership, and approval from the State is necessary before a change of ownership can take place. I assure the House that only one criterion will be applied in deciding whether that approval for the transfer of ownership of the Joondalup hospital will be effected, and that is the interests of patients in Perth’s northern suburbs. Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: The Department of Health is in the process of conducting due diligence over the proposed new purchasers of the Joondalup Private Hospital. The State, under the contract that it has with the current owners of the Joondalup Private Hospital, has the right to veto any change in ownership, and approval from the State is necessary before a change of ownership can take place. I assure the House that only one criterion will be applied in deciding whether that approval for the transfer of ownership of the Joondalup hospital will be effected, and that is the interests of patients in Perth’s northern suburbs. Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
The Department of Health is in the process of conducting due diligence over the proposed new purchasers of the Joondalup Private Hospital. The State, under the contract that it has with the current owners of the Joondalup Private Hospital, has the right to veto any change in ownership, and approval from the State is necessary before a change of ownership can take place. I assure the House that only one criterion will be applied in deciding whether that approval for the transfer of ownership of the Joondalup hospital will be effected, and that is the interests of patients in Perth’s northern suburbs. Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
. . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . .
“Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . .
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: The Department of Health is in the process of conducting due diligence over the proposed new purchasers of the Joondalup Private Hospital. The State, under the contract that it has with the current owners of the Joondalup Private Hospital, has the right to veto any change in ownership, and approval from the State is necessary before a change of ownership can take place. I assure the House that only one criterion will be applied in deciding whether that approval for the transfer of ownership of the Joondalup hospital will be effected, and that is the interests of patients in Perth’s northern suburbs. Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
The Department of Health is in the process of conducting due diligence over the proposed new purchasers of the Joondalup Private Hospital. The State, under the contract that it has with the current owners of the Joondalup Private Hospital, has the right to veto any change in ownership, and approval from the State is necessary before a change of ownership can take place. I assure the House that only one criterion will be applied in deciding whether that approval for the transfer of ownership of the Joondalup hospital will be effected, and that is the interests of patients in Perth’s northern suburbs. Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
Mr P.D. Omodei: I would have thought you would be in the market, seeing you are so anti-privatisation. The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
The SPEAKER: Order, member for Warren-Blackwood! Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: Since the member raises the question of privatisation, the concern that every Western Australian would have about the proposed sale by the Mayne Group of its health care interests, in particular the Joondalup Private Hospital, has been well expressed by the Australian Medical Association. Yesterday it called on the State Government to “ensure ownership and control of Joondalup hospital stays in Australian hands”. I ask members to reflect on that for a few minutes, because it is a remarkable proposition to contemplate that something as essential and basic as a core service to government could be handed to investors in the investment capitals of the world. I find that an unacceptable and amazing proposition. The proposed purchaser of Mayne Health is a consortium backed by overseas finance and a local management group. The AMA, in its press release went on to make this comment, which is sobering for members to reflect on - “Tens of millions of State health dollars are poured into Joondalup each year so we must ensure that control of the hospital stays in Australian hands and that taxpayer health dollars are not sent overseas.” . . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . . I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this media release. I ask members to reflect briefly on why we are faced with the need to consider overseas ownership and control of an essential core Western Australian government service; that is, the provision of public health care to the people of Perth’s northern suburbs. There is only one reason for that: the decision by the previous State Government to privatise what was then the Wanneroo Public Hospital. It was put into the hands of a corporation that is now selling it to an overseas concern, which will transfer decisions about the nature and scope of health care services provided to public patients in Western Australia to the boardrooms of foreign corporations based overseas, because they will be making decisions, as they must under corporations law, in the best interests of their investors, not the best interests of their patients. Members opposite privatised this core service and we are now having to clean up the mess created by that decision.
. . . “Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . .
“Our public hospitals are too important to put them in the hands of overseas investors concerned only with financial return, not the welfare of WA patients,” . . .
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