Legislation passed overnight will allow the Minns Labor Government to step in and bring an end to the Liberals' privatisation disaster at the Northern Beaches Hospital.
The passage of this bill draws a line under the Liberals' failed privatisation experiment at the expense of acute public hospital care.
The bill, introduced by the Independent Member for Wakehurst Michael Regan, allows the Government to terminate the failed PPP contract as if a hospital operator default had occurred, if a negotiated outcome with Healthscope and its receivers cannot be reached.
It remains the preference of the NSW Government that a negotiated agreement on the future control and operation of the Northern Beaches Hospital can be achieved.
In the absence of agreement, the government now has the authority to intervene and avoid a prolonged dispute for members of the community, hospital staff and NSW taxpayers.
The legislation gives the Health Minister the power to issue a statutory termination notice to Healthscope, ensuring there are no windfall gains to the company or its receivers.
The Minns Labor Government has been clear in its opposition to the Liberals' privatisation model when it comes to delivering acute public health services.
Earlier this month, the government banned any repeat of the Liberals' failed PPP public health model in the future.
This second piece of legislation gives the government stronger powers to clean up the Liberals' mess and reset the operating model for the Northern Beaches Hospital.
Discussions between the Northern Beaches Hospital Taskforce, Healthscope and its receivers remain ongoing, and the NSW Government is hopeful of a productive outcome.
NSW Health will continue to work closely with Healthscope to ensure that patient safety and continuity of services at the Northern Beaches Hospital will not be compromised as negotiations continue.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:
"This equips the government with the ability to step in and end the Liberals' privatisation disaster once and for all.
"We have banned any repeat of the Liberals' failed privatisation model into the future.
"We don't take this lightly.
"We remain hopeful of reaching an agreed exit from the failed PPP contract. But now we have the ability to step in and protect the Northern Beaches community from this dragging on."
Health Minister Ryan Park said:
"We don't want to have to use this power.
"But the extent of the mess the Liberals left us to clean up leaves us with few options.
"I still believe we can resolve this through negotiation, but we have to put the community, the patients and the taxpayers first - no windfalls, and no delays."
