Simon Jones, Newcastle
In a memorable scene from Robert Connelly's 2002 film The Bank, CEO Simon O'Reilly (played by Anthony LaPaglia) is shown trying to convince his board of directors why Centabank should use an impending financial collapse to make immense profits at the expense of its competitors.
"We have a responsibility to our shareholders", O'Reilly shouts. "The public will have to fend for itself."
This phrase sums up the basic ethos and morality of private corporations everywhere. Now, in Newcastle, the trade union movement and community activists have drawn a line in the sand. They aim to stop profit-seeking, private interests from gaining a foothold in the public health sector.
On August 29, 2003, the Hunter Health Area Service and the NSW ALP government announced in a press release that they intend to pay private contractors to redevelop Newcastle's Mater Misericordiae Hospital under a public-private partnership (PPP).
The Newcastle Trades Hall Council (NTHC) is now leading a determined stand to defend public health from privatisation. Trades Hall secretary Gary Kennedy has warned that any attempted private redevelopment of the Mater will be met with union bans and community picket lines.
The origin of this campaign extends back to 2000 when the NTHC and the staff of the Mater waged a successful fight to prevent the hospital's privatisation. They secured a promise from NSW Premier Bob Carr that $80 million would be set aside to pay for the Mater's redevelopment in the near future.
Now, the $80 million has been handed back to the government and Hunter Health and the Carr government have reneged on their promise. Instead, Hunter Health has plans to build a new psychiatric hospital and upgrade oncology (cancer) services at the Mater through a PPP. More recently, Hunter Health has included an upgrade of facilities at Newcastle's James Fletcher Hospital as part of the PPP package.
A private corporation will also be granted contracts to provide non-clinical services such as cleaning, security and maintenance for 25 years under the PPP agreement, sparking concern from the NTHC that working conditions will be forced down, jobs lost and hospital maintenance reduced to help the private contractor maintain their profit margin.
Kennedy told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that the NTHC is totally opposed to the introduction of the PPP plan and condemned the ALP state government for its "obsession" with reducing public funding for health care. "We've had a long standing opposition to PPPs over a long time. We strongly believe that essential social infrastructure cannot be compromised", he said.
Hunter Health CEO Katherine McGrath, and the general manager of the Mater, Colin Osborne, have vigorously defended the PPP scheme. In a remarkably cynical attempt to sway public opinion behind the privately financed redevelopment, the Hunter Health administration has even implied in the local media that the union bans, and Kennedy in particular, will be responsible for holding up vital mental health and oncology treatment.
Kennedy rejects these claims outright, arguing that Hunter Health is engaging in underhanded tactics to blacken his name and divert attention away from the pitfalls of the PPP scheme, which will only put the quality of health care at risk in the Hunter. "Because of the poor management at Hunter Health at the moment there is not enough staff employed at the Mater to operate the equipment. That is not the fault of Newcastle Trades Hall", he said.
To demonstrate its commitment to the health system, the NTHC has made an undertaking that no union members will stop providing health services and no person will be prevented from entering the hospital during the campaign. "But once the new construction work begins, a community picket line will be organised and community members will be chaining themselves to bulldozers", Kennedy promised.
The Defend Public Health Committee has been formed by the NTHC to mobilise opposition to the Mater Hospital PPP redevelopment. It includes participants from every political party in Newcastle except the ALP, including the Socialist Alliance, the Greens and the Progressive Labor Party.
The DPHC has pointed out that essential government services such as health care should remain in public hands. The quality of health care and well-being of patients should not be held hostage to the profit margin of any private corporation, the group maintains.
The DPHC has also cited the inadequacies, cost blowouts and decline in health-care standards that have resulted from previous PPP projects at the Port Macquarie Base Hospital and at the LaTrobe Valley Base hospital in Victoria.
An online petition has been launched at . It calls for the PPP proposal to be scrapped and the promised $80 million of public funds be reallocated back into the Mater Hospital. It calls upon all unionists and community members to actively support the campaign.
The DPHC has also organised a public meeting titled "Save the Mater Hospital from privatisation" for March 31 at 7pm in the Main Auditorium of Newcastle Panthers Club, to discuss the next steps in the battle to defend public health in Newcastle.
[To find out more about the Defend Public Health Committee or to get involved visit call Gary Kennedy on (02_ 4929 1162 or email <gary@newtradeshall.com>].
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, March 17, 2004.
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