The Government welcomes this morning’s decision by the Tasmanian Industrial Commission’s full bench to grant the Tasmanian Government’s application relating to the Private Practice Scheme.
We support the long-standing arrangement for doctors to retain earnings from treating private patients in our public hospitals, but not at the expense of public patients and services.
However, we believe Commissioner Abey’s original ruling erred in law when he said the PPS arrangement should be included in the award. For this reason we had to challenge the ruling.
Today’s suspension means the issue can be heard.
It is important to note, the suspension only relates to the section about the PPS and the remainder of the award, including doctor pay rises will continue unaffected. The pay rise that the Government agreed to last year is already being paid.
The matter will return to the TIC on April 29.
