Government review into private hospitals won’t be published in full, Butler says
Natasha May
The government review into private hospitals will not be published in full due to commercial in confidence information shared – but a version of the report will be made available for the public, the health minister says.
The stoush between private hospitals and insurers prompted the federal health department to ask hospitals and other stakeholders to hand over their financial information to assess the performance, pressures and profitability of the sector.
Today as the minister, Mark Butler, held a press conference after opening another urgent care clinic in Bayswater, he was asked about releasing the findings of the review which are overdue.
Butler said:
I asked the secretary of my department to undertake what I described really as a health check for the private hospital sector … That work has finished, the analysis hasn’t been provided to me yet.
In terms of what might be released publicly, I was very grateful that the vast bulk of the players in the system, whether they were insurance … or private hospital operators, provided a lot of pretty commercial-in-confidence, sensitive information to our department to be able to get a really good sense of what’s really happening out there in the sector.
Obviously, they don’t want that released, so the full report will not be released. That would breach faith, really, with those companies and organisations who participated in this in good faith.
But I’ve asked my department to look at preparing a version of this report that is able to be released publicly so the community understands what’s going on, without breaching faith with the undertakings we gave to keep that commercial information in-confidence.
Key events
Cait Kelly
Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has made an apology to the breaking community while stating that her “record speaks” to being Australia’s best B-girl, in her first sit-down interview since her controversial appearance at the Paris Olympics made global headlines.
The Australian breakdancer was at the centre of an international wave of controversy after she was knocked out of the round-robin stage of the event for her performance routine that included hopping like a kangaroo and flailing on the floor.
The full interview will air on The Project on Wednesday evening but an excerpt of the prerecorded interview published on news.com.au showed Gunn making an apology to the breakdancing community, after the criticism she had damaged the art form’s reputation.
You can read more on that story here:
Andrew Messenger
Crisafulli says Queensland renewables target not ‘possible’
The Queensland opposition leader has declared the state’s renewable target is not “possible”. The state has a legislated renewable energy target of 80% by 2035, which is currently ahead of schedule.
At an event organised by the Queensland Community Alliance on Tuesday night, David Crisafulli said the party can’t back the target because they don’t support the government’s Pioneer-Burdekin hydroelectric scheme.
We didn’t sign up for the renewable energy target set by the state because we don’t believe there’s a credible path to get there.
I will not promise these things I do not believe are possible.
Crisafulli also ruled out privatising, contracting out or using labour hire in “current public assets” at the community event. “We don’t have plans. We won’t be doing it. It doesn’t work,” he said.
Are private hospitals in Australia really facing a cash crisis and could some close?
A toxic stoush between health insurers and hospitals is coming to a head and experts say the sector’s finances are murky. Here’s what we know about the dispute:
Josh Taylor
Meta has had no recent contact with government over media bargaining code, inquiry told
Meta’s Australian director of policy, Mia Garlick has told the parliament that the Albanese government has not had any more engagement with the Facebook and Instagram parent company over the issue of the news media bargaining code and paying for news since she declared at the last hearing that “all options were on the table” in terms of whether Meta would block news from its service if forced to pay news companies again.
She told the social media inquiry:
We haven’t had any further engagement from the government. And so our position hasn’t changed and so we can’t really comment on hypotheticals.
She was asked by chair Sharon Claydon about Australian news publishers being unable to share links to news stories on Instagram and Threads in August and if it was a demonstration of things to come. Garlick said it was an error that Meta rectified once it became aware of it.
This opinion piece by the Australian children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, is very worth a read, if you missed it earlier today.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland opposition leader promises no changes to land clearing laws
The leader of the Queensland LNP, David Crisafulli, has promised not to make any changes to the state’s land clearing legislation at a rural press club event in Brisbane.
He also promised not to change laws governing national parks to allow grazing by cattle or any other animal.
We are not changing vegetation management. I am not going back to the days of the pendulum going to and fro on government changes. It sends uncertainty.
But what I do offer is I’m offering farmers that there’s not going to be crazy changes to do deals with [the] Greens. You’re not going to constantly see tightening and some of the crazy policing of vegetation management rules.
Crisafulli spoke about his childhood growing up in north Queensland as the grandson of a cane farmer and committed $12.5m to keep the Mossman mill open. The mill, which processes sugar for landholders near Cairns, went into liquidation earlier this year.
He also flagged changes to regulation of national parks, though he flatly denied reports the party was considering permitting cattle grazing in them.
I also believe there’s an opportunity for people on the land to voluntarily play their part … some people [should] be able to make some off-farm income in that regard too.
Sarah Basford Canales
And we’re taking a lunch break here in Perth after a packed morning in the defamation trial against Brittany Higgins brought by Senator Linda Reynolds.
It’s scheduled to resume at 2.15pm Perth time (4.15pm AEST) and is expected to conclude by 4.15pm Perth time (6.15pm AEST) at this stage.
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Nino Bucci will take you through the rest of our coverage this evening. Take care.
Sarah Basford Canales
Reynolds’ lawyer dismisses claim Higgins was justified in alleging former boss was trying to ‘silence’ victim-survivors
Linda Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, has dismissed the defence’s claim Brittany Higgins was justified in alleging her former boss was trying to “silence” sexual assault victim-survivors.
Bennett has said Reynolds’ submission to the ACT board of inquiry, which argues for a new or expanded offence in the ACT for those attempting to publicise alleged sexual crimes through the media or the parliament to “advance their own interests”, was misunderstood.
Reynolds’ 2023 submission to Walter Sofronoff’s review laws should prevent people from “deliberately publicising allegations of an alleged criminal act, where that person has a reckless disregard, or is recklessly indifferent, to the risk of hindering a court, tribunal, commission, board or other entity in the exercise of its functions in a legal proceeding or an investigation by doing so”.
Higgins posted on social media in July 2023 that the submission showed Reynolds was trying to “silence” sexual assault victims. Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, told the court on Monday it was fair comment given Reynolds sought to “shut off” the option for sexual assault complainants to go to the media or parliament.
Bennett argued the senator’s submission was not trying to silence anyone but to prevent the “exploitation” of the criminal justice system and to ensure alleged perpetrators could be prosecuted.
Justice Paul Tottle questioned whether the effect of changing the laws could result in “silencing” victims. Bennett responded it wouldn’t prevent victim-survivors talking about their experiences after a prosecution, using Grace Tame as an example. Reynolds’ lawyer insisted it was about ensuring and encouraging allegations went to the police – not the media.
Government review into private hospitals won’t be published in full, Butler says
Natasha May
The government review into private hospitals will not be published in full due to commercial in confidence information shared – but a version of the report will be made available for the public, the health minister says.
The stoush between private hospitals and insurers prompted the federal health department to ask hospitals and other stakeholders to hand over their financial information to assess the performance, pressures and profitability of the sector.
Today as the minister, Mark Butler, held a press conference after opening another urgent care clinic in Bayswater, he was asked about releasing the findings of the review which are overdue.
Butler said:
I asked the secretary of my department to undertake what I described really as a health check for the private hospital sector … That work has finished, the analysis hasn’t been provided to me yet.
In terms of what might be released publicly, I was very grateful that the vast bulk of the players in the system, whether they were insurance … or private hospital operators, provided a lot of pretty commercial-in-confidence, sensitive information to our department to be able to get a really good sense of what’s really happening out there in the sector.
Obviously, they don’t want that released, so the full report will not be released. That would breach faith, really, with those companies and organisations who participated in this in good faith.
But I’ve asked my department to look at preparing a version of this report that is able to be released publicly so the community understands what’s going on, without breaching faith with the undertakings we gave to keep that commercial information in-confidence.
