House debates

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Bills

National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill 2011; Consideration in Detail

11:28 am

Photo of Nicola RoxonNicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to answer a question on an issue for debate which is actually on the topic of this legislation and amendments. As is set out clearly in the detail of these amendments, the bodies that the Health Performance Authority will report on are public and private hospitals, local hospital networks and Medicare Locals. As the member for Boothby would know, Medicare Locals do have a remit which goes broadly across a particular community and will include the level of services, for example, provided by GPs in the community. It is not a reporting function about individual GPs, if that is the question that you are asking.

On the question of the scope to report on other state funded services, for example ambulance services that have never been included as part of the health system although they are obviously a vital part of how the health system works, they are not captured by this reporting. There is a provision, as the member for Lyne mentioned, that COAG can agree to extend the remit of the Health Performance Authority, so it might in its negotiations decide that X, Y and Z in the future should also be reported upon, and that would be something that the performance authority then would be able to do. It has been created by an agreement of COAG. This legislation gives force to that agreement struck by COAG. Its reach and remit does not extend beyond that agreement unless there is a future agreement that extends it.

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