OFFICE OF THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
MONDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2014
Shadow
Health Minister, Jo-Ann Miller, says the Newman Government should halt
the process it has in train to sell off one-third of the Royal Brisbane
and Women’s Hospital site as part of its
plans to Americanise the state’s health system.
“Queenslanders are right to question the Newman Government’s twisted priorities for our hospital system,” Mrs Miller said.
“In
the last few years we have seen nurses and frontline staff sacked;
frontline services cut; and now doctors forced to sign WorkChoices-style
contracts."
“At
the same time the LNP Government has been caught out cooking up a
sneaky deal to develop a five-star hotel as part of its RBWH land sale
where patients and their families and carers will
pay $400 to $500 a night for a bed."
“An on-site hotel for the well-off on a public hospital site is about private profits not health care for Queenslanders."
“No
matter what weasel words Lawrence Springborg comes up with, one-third
of publicly owned land at the RBWH campus is being put off limits for
private, profit-making purposes,” Mrs Miller
said."
“Private
developers demand security of tenure and that means if they build a
five-star hotel as the Minister wants then they will demand a land sale
or the equivalent such as a perpetual or
99-year lease or some other conditions."
“They
are all land sales in anyone’s language. This is yet another asset sale
without the approval of voters and another sale the Premier never
mentioned before the 2012 state election."
“If
the Minister for Health Cuts and Closures wants to argue it is not a
sale he should halt the process, release in full all the project
documents, and provide a process for public input and
consultation."
“Currently
the final outcome of the sale process will result in a decision taken
behind closed doors. Taxpayers deserve to know what the LNP Government
is up to with our precious hospital assets.”
Mrs
Miller said the sale of 4.8ha of the 18ha RBWH site was just the tip of
the iceberg of the LNP’s Americanised model of health care.
“The
Newman Government wants to force Queenslanders into paying private
operators whenever they access previously free hospital services,” she
said.
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