Mr MICHAEL REGAN (Wakehurst) (12:05): My question is directed to the Minister for Health. Only 292 of the 488 beds at Northern Beaches Hospital are public, much less than the 370 public beds across the former Mona Vale and Manly hospitals that the hospital replaced. Given the expanded catchment, growing population, ageing population and the practical challenges of maintaining a separate private portion within the hospital, will the New South Wales Government commit to bringing all beds at the Northern Beaches Hospital back into public hands?
Mr RYAN PARK (Keira—Minister for Health, Minister for Regional Health, and Minister for the Illawarra and the South Coast) (12:05): I thank the member for Wakehurst for his question. The privatisation of the Northern Beaches Hospital, in his electorate, was the first issue he raised with me when he came into this place. All of us would agree that both he and the member for Pittwater have been tireless advocates on behalf of the people of the northern beaches to, essentially, try and clean up the mess of privatisation. Nothing demonstrates how poor was the decision-making in relation to the privatisation of a public hospital service than the situation at Northern Beaches Hospital right now.
We now have a taskforce, which will brief us again today. It is made up of senior officials from Treasury, NSW Health and the Cabinet Office who have been directly engaging for the last few weeks with the team from Healthscope, which is now with receivers. The situation in relation to that contract is quite extraordinary. The taxpayer is on the hook until 2038 for the public component and 2058 for the private component. Members do not have to be geniuses to work out the complexities of unravelling that. In fact, those complexities are highlighted in the contract itself.
When I read the contract agreed to by the last Government and Healthscope, I observed that the transition period to bring the hospital back into public hands at the end of that term is going to take three years. It beggars belief when I hear comments from members opposite that I am taking my time with this. Taking my time? To get rid of a dog of a contract that they signed? They gave themselves three years do it. I get that it is confusing; I am not dealing with pictures, so that rules out the Nats. Just a couple of weeks ago, at a forum of many hundreds of people, the community expressed clearly to the Treasurer, the member for Wakehurst, the member for Pittwater and me that they want that hospital back in public hands. They want to maximise the bed usage—and so do we. [Extension of time]
Mona Vale sits as a 56-bed facility for subacute and non-acute patients to access. We are able to work with that health service at Mona Vale in the community. We will be working to maximise bed numbers. That is not a process we have locked down yet. We are at the front end of unpacking the contract and trying to minimise the exposure to the taxpayer. That is the train wreck that members opposite know all too well. Members who have observed the issue of health care in the Chamber for some time will remember Port Macquarie. Do not worry: The Labor Government only had to buy back twice! Do not panic about it. Privatisation is fantastic. It is absolutely brilliant. They are brilliant. They are great. Members opposite are masters of the budget. Do not panic: We will only have to pay it back twice. That's okay. We are in this situation because of a bad contract entered into by a bad government. Unfortunately the people of the northern beaches are now paying a very hefty price.
I am confident that, working with the member for Wakehurst and the member for Pittwater, we will make sure that we maximise the availability of space to public patients in that community. That is the message that the Treasurer and I have heard loud and clear. What I will not do as we work through the process over the next few days, weeks and months is be lectured by members opposite, because the member for Shellharbour, the member for Goulburn, the member for Wollondilly, the member for Maitland and the member for Wyong would have been dealing with the issue. Members opposite are ideologically supportive of the privatisation of public health care and we are determined to make sure it never happens again.
Read the question in Hansard here
04 June 2025