Premier Mike Baird fired up today when asked about Labor claims that St George Hospital could be privatised.
He said the suggestion was ‘‘rubbish’’ and provided an insight into the ‘‘scare campaigns’’ that would be run in the lead-up to the next election.
‘‘I don’t care what scare campaigns come, we will meet them head on,’’ he said at the announcement of his new cabinet.
‘‘The new team comes with the hunger for that fight.’’
Mr Baird did not take the chance to clarify or elaborate on the privatisation proposal he floated in an interview with Fairfax Media on the weekend.
He said in that interview the model used in Western Australia, where non-clinical staff were employed privately and public hospitals were built and managed privately, could provide a ’’fantastic opportunity’’ to give the best services to NSW patients.
‘‘Don’t be afraid of the private sector,’’ he said.
His comments prompted Labor candidate for Kogarah, Chris Minns, to call on Liberal MPs in St George to rule out the privatisation of St George Hospital.
Mr Minns said the last Liberal government tried privatisation with Port Macquarie Base Hospital before the next Labor government bought it back in 2005.
‘‘The NSW Auditor-General found the taxpayer had basically paid for that Port Macquarie hospital three times over and lost out significantly under the privatisation model,’’ he said.
Mr Baird said today there were already ‘‘private operations within our hospital networks’’.
‘‘There will always be public hospitals for public patients,’’ he said.
‘‘We are looking across any opportunity to deliver better services.
‘‘I don’t think there is anything wrong with saying we want to deliver better services and I am open to how that looks.’’
What do you think of the idea of privatising public hospitals?
