Ms O’CONNOR – Thank you, Chair. Minister, I ask you about the MOU which was signed between the Liberal Party of Tasmania and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Last year in Estimates we did talk about the arrangement between the RFDS with Hobart Airport while the runway upgrade is occurring. I have got a series of questions on this issue. Given that the runway work is now underway, Minister, are you able to give us an update on that work?
Mr BARNETT – I am sure we can provide an update, and I thank the Royal Flying Doctor Service for their excellent work. It was brought up with Nicole Henty last week at the vaping roundtable, which I know the honourable member would be interested in.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes.
Mr BARNETT – So in terms of an update I would be more than happy to say that the acting secretary can speak to that, and we can fill in any gaps to assist the honourable member.
Mr WEBSTER – Through you, minister, and I think the question is about the closure of Hobart Airport, and how we are going to manage around that.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes.
Mr WEBSTER – So through you, minister, Hobart Airport will be closed for a number of months. It will be closed from 10 pm to 6 am. We average around – between two and three landings via that airport through those hours for aeromedical – either – well, I will call it ‘retrieval’, but it may be we are not just retrieving from Hobart, it may be we are bringing someone down from the north or northwest to Hobart.
Our Chief Executive Ambulance Tasmania has met with our chief executives and our key staff in each of the regions, so we have got a contingency plan around every one of those retrievals, which will mean that what we are doing is either planning to land at the first opportunity in Hobart. If, you know, the call is later in the hours, we have got the plane actually in the air from Launceston to land in Hobart at 6 am, or equally if it is at the other end of the time, we may have a contingency that actually sees a northwest case go to Launceston rather than to the south, or indeed go across to Victoria through those hours.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay.
Mr WEBSTER – So we are working through, and I think the key will be we should be able to limit the numbers that we need to fly during those hours by making the decision to actually move hospital as early as possible.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes.
Mr WEBSTER – So as I said, it is about three cases a week that we will have to manage through this period. But we are confident with cooperation between the hospitals and our retrieval team in AT that we have got contingencies in place for all of those.
Ms O’CONNOR – Thank you, Mr Webster. Has the – and this is a question to the minister – what role has the memorandum of understanding signed between then-Premier Peter Gutwein on behalf of the Liberal Party with the Royal Flying Doctor Service which was signed during the 2021 election campaign playing in health negotiations with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. So you have got an MOU there that was signed. Not between government and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, between the Premier on behalf of the Liberal Party.
Mr WEBSTER – Well, the MOU is actually between the government and the RFDS.
Ms O’CONNOR – Well, Mr Webster, it’s not.
Mr BARNETT – Yes. Thanks very much for the question. So just to confirm on the record, the MOU is between the state government and the RFDS. And I am –
Ms O’CONNOR – Can you just confirm it was re-signed?
Mr BARNETT – And I am aware that the former Premier, Peter Gutwein, did sign that agreement.
Ms O’CONNOR – So can we just have some clarity? Sorry, minister.
Mr BARNETT – Just to clarify he – was it Premier Rockcliff? It was Premier Rockcliff that signed the agreement.
Ms O’CONNOR – So just for your clarity here, I am not expecting you to know the details of this, but a memorandum of understanding was signed between Peter Gutwein on behalf of the Liberal Party of Tasmania – here’s the letter – and Malcolm White, on behalf of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in April of 2021. So are you saying that this, what I understand to be a 10 year contract, has now been re-signed with the Royal Flying Doctor Service to provide them with this aeromedical contract?
Mr BARNETT – All right. Just to kick it off, I think you are making reference to an election commitment that Peter Gutwein –
Ms O’CONNOR – It is called a memorandum of understanding.
Mr BARNETT – Yes. But it was during the election campaign, if I remember it correctly.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes, and it says that there will be ‘a partnership in the form of a long-term contract of up to 10 years for aeromedical support services’.
Mr BARNETT – Well, my understanding, during the election, is that the commitment was made by Mr Gutwein on behalf of the Gutwein Liberal government –
Ms O’CONNOR – No.
Mr BARNETT – Well, that’s my understanding, and that would progress when in government if re-elected and we were re-elected. And then the MOU was then subsequently signed by the –
Ms O’CONNOR – Well –
Mr BARNETT – And I wasn’t there, but I am just giving you my recollection. I will pass to the acting secretary to outline the agreement and where it came from, and where we are at now.
Ms O’CONNOR – And just before you start, Mr Webster, you might confirm whether or not Ambulance Tasmania is pushing for an open tender for this aeromedical contract. What is the status of that contract?
Mr BARNETT – All right. Thank you. Let us go to the acting secretary.
Mr WEBSTER – Through you, minister. The status of the letter by the then-Premier during the election campaign was interpreted by government to be an election commitment. We subsequently then negotiated a memorandum of understanding between government and the RFDS. The terms of that memorandum of understanding are somewhat different to the letter between Premier Gutwein and the RFDS, and in fact it was not signed until Premier Rockcliff was Premier.
It was signed – so I think it was, from memory, July 2022 before an MOU was actually formally entered into. In the MOU it provides that the RFDS can provide a tender for fixed-wing aeromedical, and that that would then be assessed against the tender criteria. Critically it provides that it has to be assessed on a value for money basis, and the status of that at the moment – and I emphasise only fixed-wing, because there are two aeromedical services in Tasmania.
The fixed wing, the status is that the RFDS have tendered and we are going through an evaluation process of that tender. And for probatory reasons I can’t enter into the detail of the tender at this point, because it is with the RFDS – well, with the assessment panel and the – after the assessment panel it goes to the Procurement Review Committee who then make a recommendation to me. At this stage I haven’t seen it.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay, thank you. Perhaps through you, minister. Can you confirm only one tenderer, that is the Royal Flying Doctor Service was invited to apply for this tender?
Mr WEBSTER – Through you, minister. Yes. That’s right. We did a sole tender process through the treasurer’s instruction and invited the RFDS to do that in line with other commitments made by both. Well, initially by the federal government in terms of the RFDS base in Launceston, and of course the more recent commitment for the state government to also contribute some money to the RFDS base.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay so what we’ve established here, and this to you, minister, because of an election promise to the Royal Flying Doctor Service made during caretaker period the Royal Flying Doctor Service – and I stop right here to say they do terrific work – this is not about the work that they do – the Royal Flying Doctor Service has been given an exclusive opportunity to tender for a 10-year contract off the back of a promise that was made during caretaker period. Why weren’t any other potential aeromedical supply organisations invited to tender?
Mr BARNETT – So thanks for the question. I think the acting secretary has at least answered that in part where you’ve got the federal government had made a commitment of $15 million to the Royal Flying Doctor Facility at Launceston. Our government has provided an additional $6 million amount for that. That is my understanding based on the latest advice I have and that’s a commitment that’s been provided. I’m sure there’s terms and conditions that would apply around that. There would be terms and conditions that would apply in the agreement that would be settled, but I’ll ask the acting secretary just to add to that answer and to clarify.
Ms O’CONNOR – And can you clarify it’s a 10-year arrangement?
Mr BARNETT – Through you, minister. I’m just trying to remember whether that tender is a 10-year tender. Yes, it is.
Ms O’CONNOR – That was the promise the former Premier made. Yes, I’m not surprised it’s a 10-year contract.
Mr BARNETT – But the actual tender – and I’ll just correct the record so I’m absolutely correct – is there are two entities that we’re dealing with. The RFDS Tasmania and the RFDS Southeast and they are joint tenderers in the process. The reason for that is that the provider of current services is not RFDS Tas, it’s RFDS Southeast because they hold the flight license and all of those requirements. It’s always been a joint process, if you like, going back. Secondly, RFDS have actually provided this service from as far back as the 1960s in Tasmania. I think it goes even further than that.
Ms O’CONNOR – Thanks, Mr Webster. Can I just check, minister, was there an exemption from the treasurer’s instructions on tendering in relation to this 10-year contract that was awarded to a single tenderer?
Mr WEBSTER – Through you, minister. Yes, there was an exemption from the treasurer’s instruction to allow us to do a sole tender and that is actually a – sorry, the secretary of the Department of Health gives that exemption. Not the treasurer. Sorry, I was vague on that because I wasn’t secretary at that time.
Ms O’CONNOR – Thank you. Just finally, what is the total value of that 10-year contract?
Mr WEBSTER – Through you, minister. I’m unable to say that because that’s part of the tender process and we do that value for management process. I’d actually be letting the RFDS know what we think the value is.
Ms O’CONNOR – Well, I mean the contract has sort of been gifted. So, I think anything would be a bonus from here. But thank you, Mr Webster, for your answer.
