ATTENTION: HEALTH REPORTER NO. OF PAGES:1

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST 2000

“NEW PUBLIC HEALTH BILL POSITIVE”

“The new Public Health and Disability Bill is a constructive and positive piece of legislation,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today. Mr Powell was commenting on the introduction of the Government’s new Bill into Parliament today.

“We are pleased that the Bill will take public hospitals out of coverage of the Commerce and Companies Acts. This marks the end of the mad destructive experience of trying to run public hospitals as commercial businesses. The new Bill recognises that health services are a public good and necessity rather than supermarket products.”

“The major challenge under the new Bill when it becomes law is to ensure that health managers are up to scratch for the new environment. Many managers were potty trained in the failed ideology of commercialism and privatisation. Those managers who are unable to shape up and graduate beyond nappies may have to ship out.”

“The new Bill confirms that the government has now returned to the same philosophic planet as health professionals and the public,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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