Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
1530 COUNCIL Tuesday, 31 May 2011
The PRESIDENT — Time!
Health: commonwealth-state agreement
Mrs KRONBERG (Eastern Metropolitan) — My
question is addressed to the Minister for Health,
Mr Davis. Can the minister explain to the house the
concerns Victoria has regarding the actions the
commonwealth is taking that increase the number of
bureaucrats but do not increase the number of doctors
and nurses in Victoria, and is he aware of any other
groups or organisations who share similar concerns?
Hon. D. M. DAVIS (Minister for Health) — I am
pleased to answer the member’s question, and I note
her concern to see that our health spending is spent on
doctors and nurses and not on bureaucrats. When the
coalition came to government it reassessed many of the
features of the commonwealth-state health agreement.
Immediately after the heads of agreement had been
signed the Prime Minister held a press conference
during which she made a point of giving some solemn
commitments that there would not be a growth in
bureaucracy.
What we find has occurred is that the federal
government has introduced into the commonwealth
Parliament the National Health Reform Amendment
(National Health Performance Authority) Bill 2011
without prior consultation with the states. We were
disappointed to find that legislation pop up in the
federal Parliament. That was not the spirit of the
agreement that was signed in February. This was meant
to be a collaboration — a genuine partnership with the
commonwealth — as we sought to move forward and
get the best outcome for Victorians. What is clear is that
the commonwealth is seeking to erect an intrusive and
overly large bureaucracy. It is clear that the riding
instructions given to the National Health Performance
Authority, as outlined in the bill, are not in the public
interest and miss the point of the key aims that were
part of the heads of agreement.
Victoria is keen to see a genuine partnership. We are
keen to see that bureaucracy is controlled. We are keen
to see that we do not excessively duplicate the functions
and arrangements that are already in place through the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. We need to
make sure that the institute is in a position to do its
work, and the question is: do we need an overly
intrusive health performance authority that will act as a
whole new layer of bureaucracy?
We are open to discussion on this, and we are open to
working with the commonwealth. We seek to
collaborate with the commonwealth on these matters,
but we do not want to see an overly intrusive and large
set of new Canberra bureaucrats put up for the purposes
of increasing commonwealth meddling and
intrusiveness. It is not in the public interest, and these
concerns are shared by the Western Australian
government. Our government and the Western
Australian government have both put submissions to
the Senate inquiry which lay out a number of our
concerns.
A number of the other states have also expressed
concerns — publicly in some cases, privately in
others — about the health performance authority, the
approach of the department at a national level and the
approach of the commonwealth health minister. We
need to work through these matters. We are determined
to be collaborative and we are determined to be
cooperative, but we want a health arrangement that
keeps bureaucracy down. We do not want new and
intrusive bureaucracies. We want health arrangements
that are focused on delivering services for the
community.
Heinz Australia: Girgarre factory closure
Hon. M. P. PAKULA (Western Metropolitan) —
My question is to the Minister for Employment and
Industrial Relations. Can the minister advise the house
whether he or his department was aware of the decision
by Heinz to make 150 workers at Girgarre redundant
prior to the employees being notified of the decision
last week?
Hon. R. A. DALLA-RIVA (Minister for
Employment and Industrial Relations) — I thank the
member for the question, because it is important to
understand that news of any job losses, in this case
news of the job losses at Heinz in Girgarre, is extremely
disappointing. We know there will be anxious days to
come for many of the employees and their families. The
government has spoken to Heinz, which has described
the decision as being part of a global consolidation
strategy, and the government has been advised that the
Girgarre plant will close within the next 6 to 12 months.
The Victorian government will be working with Heinz
to assist those displaced workers.
Heinz has stated that all employees will be provided
with support, including counselling, job search services,
new skills training and retirement services, through its
outplacement program. They will also be supported by
the Victorian government. I ensured that a team was
sent out to deal with these matters on Friday and to join
the company in ensuring that these workers were being
supported.