Transcript of media conference with independent MP for Clark Sue Hickey, Parliament Lawns, 27 April 2021.
Sue Hickey
I’m calling for a judicial or at least a select parliamentary inquiry into the underspend in health and where the allocation of GST money has gone. There’s been a complete underspend in our health system, and by any measure, it’s somewhere between 1 billion and 2.8 billion dollars. But at least it is unaccountable and we cannot find out why the government has not allocated the money correctly. So what I’m saying is that the Australian Grants Commission allocates extra GST to our population, nearly double per population, because of our sickest, poorest and oldest population, Yet it spends 10% less than any other state. And this is certainly not good enough. So we have 15,000 people waiting for dental appointments, we have 51,000 people waiting for an appointment through the hospital, we have 12,000 people waiting for desperate surgery. And if you’re waiting for a hip replacement, you can wait for year and a half in agony. But on top of that, try getting into mental health facilities, that is almost impossible. So what I’m asking for is: where has the money gone? And why is it not being spent year on year? There’s something dodgy when the money’s being spent in other places other than health where it’s directly allocated. I think it needs to be investigated so this rot stops.
Journalist – Elliott
What’s the evidence?
Sue Hickey
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Grants Commission are saying that the government is under spending by at least 10% per year. And what is actually happening is we get double the percentage of GST than other populations per population, because we have the old, sickest and poorest population in Australia, in this category. So we’re getting extra money, but basically it costs extra money to run a hospital system in Tasmania, because our population is so spread out. And the results are for everyone to see. So what we’re saying is why has the government over 70 years allocated the money to other priorities when it should have been spending it on health? It will say that it built the hospital, but this money is not for that. It’s for nurses, it’s for doctors, it’s for the things that make the health system work. And clearly the health system isn’t working. And I want to know why the government has had different priorities. I mean, wanting to spend money on a stadium, when you’ve got people who are too sick, too old and too poor to go to any event to see a mainland teamplay, is an outrage.
Journalist – Elliott
This is something you knew about before you weren’t part of the party?
Sue Hickey
I had no idea. You know, I’ve been presented with lots of facts and figures from the Australian Institute, from the Grants Commission. And also obviously, Martin Goddard has made various claims up to $2.8 billion shortfall. And this is clearly, you know, it’s a corrupt process. What we need to do is actually say, ‘why haven’t we been spending the money that we’ve been allocated by the Australian Government for health services, on health services?’
Tasmanian Times
You’ve been out campaigning for about four weeks now. To what extent is health a major issue that people have been raising with you?
Sue Hickey
Without a doubt, health and housing are the two biggest issues of this election. And people are saying that the government has had seven years to address it, and now they want another four, and that is simply unacceptable. We will get, recycled, the same ministers that we’ve had delivering these atrocious outcomes.
Journalist – Elliott
It will cost money to hold an inquiry, how do you justify that cost?
Sue Hickey
Well, when you’re trying to talk about figures between 1 billion and 2.8 billion, even if it’s only 1 billion, that’s an incredible amount of money that could have propped up the government’s health system. So how can you not…if we don’t know exactly how much is not being spent, then we need to find out why and who is not spending it and who is making these decisions. So I think a joint parliamentary select inquiry is overdue, much needed, and the people of Tasmania would expect accountability on this type of expenditure.
Journalist – Elliott
We’re covering another event on Mount Wellington today. I just wondered what’s your position on the cable car and the privatisation of public lands?
Sue Hickey
Well, I’m concerned about privatisation of most lands, you know that have generally been in the hands of the public. And so I would like to see the business case for that first of all. Secondly, I’m not against a cable car, but I am against the processes that have been going on; I think we really need to have a social license for this. So maybe we need to have a poll. And it could have been done as an electors poll for this election to find out truly what the people of Tasmania think. Some people think it’s going to be great for the economy, and other people think it will be terrible for the local environment and for the traffic situation. But I just think it needs to be further discussed. And we need to go, as the government has committed, though, to going through the full process. So through Hobart City Council, through the full planning processes. So not necessarily against it, but I mean, it sounds exciting, but I do think it must go through the rigorous planning and we’ll just have to wait to see if it stacks up. And I think Tasmanians will expect accountability around a good business case model.
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