Mr MICHAEL REGAN (Wakehurst) (12:06): My question is directed to the Minister for Health. Will the Minister confirm that the Northern Beaches Hospital will permanently remain at least a level 5 health facility and will be fully resourced and fully staffed commensurate with a level 5 facility?

Mr RYAN PARK (Keira—Minister for Health, Minister for Regional Health, and Minister for the Illawarra and the South Coast) (12:06): I thank the member for Wakehurst. All of us in this place will be on a unity ticket with his advocacy around the challenges at Northern Beaches Hospital, which was the first issue he raised with me in our very first discussion. I acknowledge his work on the legislative reform that we introduced and passed in this place. I also acknowledge his colleague the member for Pittwater for her advocacy for the communities on the northern beaches. I recently read correspondence from both members regarding the level 5 issue.

I can confirm that the Northern Beaches Hospital will remain a level 5 health service. That is important not just for the northern beaches community but for the entire Sydney network. The hospital plays an important role but is going through significant challenges. If anyone thinks that privatisation is the best way to deliver public health services, they need look no further than the disaster of the Northern Beaches Hospital. That privatisation was doomed from the beginning. It is a failed experiment. It has not worked, and the people of the northern beaches and the taxpayers of New South Wales have suffered as a result.

That is why this Government put forward legislation in this place to ensure that the privatisation of hospitals does not happen again. We were at risk of seeing five additional hospitals privatised by the former Coalition Government. I have worked with the Treasurer to try to untangle that arrangement multiple times a week. We have worked extensively for many months on a process that contractually had been planned to take three years. I can tell all members that they do not want to see this situation occur again in New South Wales health facilities. I thank the member for Wakehurst and the member for Pittwater for their strident advocacy on behalf of the communities that they represent. We have recently introduced 15 senior staff into that hospital to look at things like the back office, the workforce profile, the clinical operations, what we are doing in relation to their finances and, importantly, staffing and the way in which that is resourced.

That work is ongoing. As late as this morning, I had another lengthy discussion with the Treasurer about where we are up to with those negotiations. We have an ability through the legislation to pull that in immediately. We are at the stage where those negotiations are continuing to move forward. We continue to work through a negotiated outcome, but we reserve the right to use the legislation that the member for Wakehurst helped the Government to develop. We will continue to reserve that right. The issue is extremely challenging, but no more challenging than for the communities that the member for Wakehurst and the member for Pittwater represent. I am acutely aware, as is the Treasurer, that we want to try and get this resolved as quickly as possible, but we also have a responsibility to New South Wales taxpayers.

We have seen this movie before at Port Macquarie hospital where the Government essentially bought the hospital twice. The Northern Beaches Hospital is a challenge and a warning for all of us in this place and for future legislators. The privatisation obsession by Coalition governments when it comes to health care is a failed experiment. It is bad for patients, terrible for staff and delivers poor health outcomes for communities. We are determined to make sure that the hospital continues to be a strong provider of health services in the community. The member for Wakehurst, the member for Pittwater and this Parliament have my commitment and the Treasurer's commitment that we will transparently keep the House and their communities informed. I thank those members and their constituents for their advocacy on this very important issue.

Read the question on the Hansard, here.