Candy Broad and Jill Joslyn
VICTORIAN Coalition Health Minister David Davis is accusing Labor of 11 years of inaction over the Mildura Base Hospital while in government from 1999-2010.
Mr Davis this week reacted angrily to a Notice of Motion raised in parliament by Labor Member for Northern Victoria Candy Broad.
Ms Broad alerted parliament to statements made by Mr Davis in an opinion piece in last Saturday’s Sunraysia Daily, including that “the government is currently negotiating with the (hospital) owners and will not necessarily restrict itself to the five-year term extension option, or the time frame of September 2012, set out in the contract”.
She further pointed to comments made by Member for Mildura Peter Crisp on Facebook on September 5 regarding the hospital contract and endorsed five unanimous motions passed at a Reclaim the Base public gathering on August 26.
Among them, Ms Broad called for Mr Davis to visit Mildura at the earliest opportunity to meet with Reclaim the Base members to hear their concerns.
But a spokesperson for Mr Davis accused Ms Broad of being “nothing short of hypocritical” and desperately attempting to rewrite Labor’s failure to implement its own policies.
“Ms Broad, as part of the Labor Cabinet, sat at the table when the decision was made to enter into a service agreement with MTAA to build, own and operate the Mildura Base Hospital,” Mr Davis said.
“In 1999, Labor’s policy stated, ‘All hospital privatisation contracts will be reviewed to ensure the contractors are complying with the contract and delivering the services promised.’
For more of this story, purchase your copy of Saturday's Sunraysia Daily 15/09/2012.