Decisions about how and who delivers our services can make a big difference.
The State Government has been privatising and out-sourcing public services, including:
- Privatising 31 services at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital.
- Completely privatising the new Midland Health Campus.
- Premier Barnett has privatised the new Young Offenders Prison in Murdoch.
- Homeswest maintenance services have been privatised.
This had led to:
- Poorer health services. At the Fiona Stanley Hospital IT, radiology, support and many other services will be privatised . There is a real risk that the drive for profits will lead to poorer services including for cleaning. University of WA Professor Thomas Riley has warned that: "In WA we were seeing about 40 reports of hospital infections a month until about July last year and then all of sudden it has gone upwards, and we're up around 100 cases a month."
- Fewer health services. The Midland Health Campus has been privatised by the Barnett Government and as a result there will be no services for contraception, pregnancy termination or sterilisation procedures.
- Profits for large corporations. The private company Serco has been given a $4.3 billion contract from the Government to profit from the running of the Fiona Stanley Hospital.
- Over-charging, fraud and under-servicing for housing. Following the Barnett Government’s decision to out-source to the private sector the maintenance of Homeswest properties, over-charging, under-servicing and fraud were so serious that an estimated $2.8 million will have to be repaid and the Corruption Commission has been asked to investigate.
- Unsafe services. In 2008 a private company, Global Solution Limited (now G4S), was held responsible for the death of a 46-year-old Aboriginal Elder Mr Ward, who died of heat stress inside a poorly maintained prison van. Multinational company Serco has now taken over prisoner transport despite being found to have been unsafely using cabs to transport prisoners in the UK.
Private corporations exist to make a profit, not to provide the best possible level of service for the community.
Our public services are too important to be outsourced or sold off and should remain accountable to the community and in public hands.
If re-elected, there are concerns Premier Barnett will privatise more services. This would pose a risk to the new Children's Hospital or existing hospitals like Sir Charles Gairdner, Royal Perth and Osborne Park.