Mr GREG WARREN (Campbelltown) (15:20): I make a brief contribution to debate on the Health Services Amendment (PPP Prohibition) Bill 2025. I acknowledge all of the hard work of the Minister for Health and his team. Once again, a Minister of this Government is actually doing what they said they would do before the election. A great example to set in concrete is the Government's steadfast belief in always putting patients before profits. This is ultimately what the Minister for Health intends to do with this bill. The bill will amend the Health Services Act 1997 to prohibit new public-private partnership arrangements [PPP] which provide for the construction of hospitals and the provision of acute hospital services. The Northern Beaches Hospital has shown us the consequences of this type of arrangement. The northern beaches community is rightfully up in arms. I note that the shadow Minister for Health is currently in the Chamber. I have been advised that the Opposition will not oppose this bill.

Ms Kellie Sloane: Correct.

Mr GREG WARREN: I thank the member for Vaucluse. I also acknowledge the presence of the Minister for Health in the Chamber. I thank him for his passionate hard work on this important issue. We went to the election with a no-privatisation agenda, because privatisation is not the right thing to do, particularly when it comes to health services and hospitals. There are many fine people in this great State who work hard and commit their lives to caring for people. They do not only make patients better but also care for the families of patients. Day-to-day work is not just a source of income for people working in certain occupations in our society. Their passion is to help people. That includes nurses, clinicians, physicians, allied health workers and teachers. These people invest their personal time in learning how to care for people, but they cannot do everything all the time.

The Government also cannot do everything all the time. I acknowledge that we are continuing to find a balanced outcome in negotiations with our nurses and midwives so we can give them the support they need after more than a decade of wage caps. It is not an easy task. The Minister for Health, Treasurer and the Minister for Industrial Relations are working in a collaborative, respectful and constructive way to find an outcome. I am sure we will get to an outcome, but it is not an easy task. That is by no means a reflection on the Government. All members of this Government, from the Premier down, appreciate the hard work of our nurses, midwives, clinicians, physicians and everyone else who works in the health system.

My father is a retired maintenance man who worked in the boiler room of a public hospital. He worked for NSW Health for nearly 30 years. He was committed to the maintenance of the hospital. He ensured that there was always hot water and that staff members had the facilities they needed to care for their patients. The thing he enjoyed most was getting out of the boiler room and talking to patients. He made sure that patients were okay even though he was a maintenance man. The reason I have drifted away from the bill before the House is to make the point that we need to support our health staff. They are the ones who support our patients. The best way to support our staff is to provide them with certainty.

Members should make no mistake—every government is responsible for the health and wellbeing of the people we are privileged to serve. That is the fundamental purpose of government. I acknowledge that we have had some pretty robust debates about privatisation in this House. Members discussed privatisation during the public interest debate yesterday. I deliberately avoided engaging in that debate. I have always been of the view that we cannot look toward the future while we are staring in our rear-view mirror. During the private interest debate yesterday, it was pointed out that Labor governments of the past privatised public assets. That is not this Government. This Labor Government stands steadfast against privatisation.

I note that members of the Opposition, particularly the member for Vaucluse, are personally and professionally against the privatisation of hospitals. That is a good thing. It means that the Parliament is putting the needs and requirements of patients first. Both patients and workers in the health system have the certainty that privatisation will not happen in the future, even if Opposition members are sitting on this side of the Chamber in 70 years. The crux of this issue is ensuring that the Government creates legislation so there is no more privatisation. The mistakes of the past cannot be corrected, but we can certainly provide certainty about the future to patients, staff and other members of the health system.

The bill is only intended to prevent public-private partnerships where a private operator builds and operates the hospital and provides all the acute clinical services to public patients. We have good private providers in our health system that do a great job caring for patients. We are very fortunate to have a pretty good health system in Australia. People who have ventured abroad for work, military service or tourism know that health services can be pretty shocking and expensive in certain parts of the world. I draw the House's attention to the system in place in the United States. Whilst I do not like talking too much about other places in the world, it is important that we reflect on health systems in other jurisdictions, particularly those overseas, to really appreciate what we have here in Australia and, indeed, in New South Wales.

The bill seeks to further enhance the fundamental values and principles of our health system, which is ultimately bound together by the people who work within it. We have many hospitals and buildings within our public health system but—and I am sure my good friend the health Minister would agree—the very twine that binds our health system together is the people who work within it. Their passion is patients, so it is only appropriate that this Government puts in place legislation that provides them with the certainty of the resources they need. It also ensures that we do not see a repeat of what happened on the North Shore. I do not blame the members opposite. I do blame the previous Government and the decision; I am vehemently opposed to that. But the reality is that we are putting steps in place to ensure that it cannot happen again. We are providing our health system with the certainty it needs and providing people with the understanding that this Government will never pull the rug out from underneath them, sell their hospital or put the profits of the private sector before the proper care of patients. I commend the bill to the House.