It seems Mr Schipp is confused in his recent attack on Australia First and myself (Misinformation addressed, cleared Daily Advertiser letters 26/09/13). I would say confused because I am not sure if he is commenting as chairman of the Riverina Cancer Care Community trust or as a long standing member of the Liberal Party.
Firstly I will state my letter did not claim that the RCCC was funded by taxpayer’s money nor did I say that there was any discrimination towards patients based on their economic situation or if they have private cover or not. In fact this interpretation to the meaning of my letter seems to have been taken by Mr Schipp from my questions on the palliative issue and mention of the RCCC was summed up in just over three lines of the total letter.
I have no problem at all with the RCCC as I believe they offer a very valuable service to the Riverina and conduct themselves in a most professional way. My issue is with the Liberal Party policy of public/ private partnerships and the transparency in which they conduct themselves. In fact it would be easy for anyone to get it wrong with palliative care issues due to the fact that there has never been any open public consultation on how this planned partnership with Calvary will work and of course how the Liberal Party feels two public beds will be adequate for our burgeoning population.
As to my comment about seething contempt for the RCCC, that relates to feedback from a number of locals who have told me that they are upset that they helped raise such a large amount of money to build the centre, only to find out that if they needed its services without private health cover they would still be out of pocket before they hit the Medicare threshold. It seems as if Riverina residents have been treated as second rate citizens as many metropolitan centres have public facilities where there are no charges at all yet in the country and dare I say where there is strong coalition support we are forced to use private facilities at a cost.
Had the cancer care centre been built at Wagga Base hospital as a public facility then the 55% of Wagga people who do not have private health cover would be able to access treatment without being out of pocket. Something I am sure that many with the means to invest in Private health cover would be oblivious to, but not the many living on the bread line in our community.
This leads me to our palliative issue. We should have a 100% public hospice as a part of Wagga Base Hospital so that our population is adequately cared for in their time of need. Ten beds would be the ideal size for our growing population and as a public facility there will be adequate beds for everyone rather than just two beds for public patients. Australia First supports this position as we advocate 100% free public health and dental care for all Australians.
So maybe instead of going on the attack to damage Australia First or even my own credentials maybe Mr Schipp can ask his colleague (and, I am sure, close acquaintance) Mr Maguire to organise a public meeting to discuss how this will all work. At the same time he can have Mr McCormack attend so we will get to hear the complete State and Federal position on how the Coalition believes our healthcare system should proceed into the future. I believe this would be more informative to all who are interested in this important subject than a meeting with me and the RCCC behind closed doors.
· Statistics and information sourced from http://www.cancercouncil.com.
Craig Hesketh
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