Thread: Corona Virus

Well, did a search and found this. You don't know how little you know until you look for it.

About us the Australian Health system.

The Australian health system | Australian Government Department of Health

Government responsibilities

The Australian, state and territory, and local governments share responsibility for running our health system.

Australian Government responsibilities

• Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)
• Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS)
• supporting and regulating private health insurance
• supporting and monitoring the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of primary health care services
• subsidising aged care services, such as residential care and home care, and regulating the aged care sector
• collecting and publishing health and welfare information and statistics through the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
• funding for health and medical research through the Medical Research Future Fund and the National Health and Medical Research Council
• funding veterans’ health care through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• funding community controlled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary healthcare organisations
• maintaining the number of doctors in Australia (through Commonwealth-funded university places) and ensuring they are distributed equitably across the country
• buying vaccines for the national immunisation program
• regulating medicines and medical devices through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• subsidising hearing services
• coordinating access to organ and tissue transplants
• ensuring a secure supply of safe and affordable blood products
• coordinating national responses to health emergencies, including pandemics
• ensuring a safe food supply in Australia and New Zealand
• protecting the community and the environment from radiation through nuclear safety research, policy, and regulation

State, territory and local government responsibilities

• managing and administering public hospitals
• delivering preventive services such as breast cancer screening and immunisation programs
• funding and managing community and mental health services
• public dental clinics
• ambulance and emergency services
• patient transport and subsidy schemes
• food safety and handling regulation
• regulating, inspecting, licensing and monitoring health premises

Shared responsibilities

The Commonwealth also shares responsibility with the states and territories for other activities under national agreements such as the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). These other activities include:

• funding public hospital services
• preventive services, such as free cancer screening programs including those under the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program
• registering and accrediting health professionals
• funding palliative care
• national mental health reform
• responding to national health emergencies

That is a list of what they do - not what their legal powers and responsibilities are!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

That is a list of what they do - not what their legal powers and responsibilities are!

Aren't they one and the same? You can't have the job without the power and responsibility, surely?

If there is any good news from this crisis, it would be this.

The coronavirus crisis has brought “one particularly important lesson” to our attention, Dr Longstaff said.“That is, for all the power of governments and the policy-making capacity and its economic might, ultimately the ability to defeat COVID-19 has lain in the hands of ordinary Australians consistently making decisions that they want to do the right thing,” he said.“Not being compelled, but simply wanting to do so, partly for personal interest, but also I think for the public interest.

Can't get the link to work.

What it’s shown is that you can effect major change in the world by ordinary people making decisions which bring them to fall just on the right side of questions from time to time.”

Originally Posted by bob10

Well, did a search and found this. You don't know how little you know until you look for it.

About us the Australian Health system.

The Australian health system | Australian Government Department of Health

Government responsibilities

The Australian, state and territory, and local governments share responsibility for running our health system.

Australian Government responsibilities

• Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)
• Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS)
• supporting and regulating private health insurance
• supporting and monitoring the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of primary health care services
• subsidising aged care services, such as residential care and home care, and regulating the aged care sector
• collecting and publishing health and welfare information and statistics through the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
• funding for health and medical research through the Medical Research Future Fund and the National Health and Medical Research Council
• funding veterans’ health care through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• funding community controlled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary healthcare organisations
• maintaining the number of doctors in Australia (through Commonwealth-funded university places) and ensuring they are distributed equitably across the country
• buying vaccines for the national immunisation program
• regulating medicines and medical devices through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• subsidising hearing services
• coordinating access to organ and tissue transplants
• ensuring a secure supply of safe and affordable blood products
• coordinating national responses to health emergencies, including pandemics
• ensuring a safe food supply in Australia and New Zealand
• protecting the community and the environment from radiation through nuclear safety research, policy, and regulation

State, territory and local government responsibilities

• managing and administering public hospitals
• delivering preventive services such as breast cancer screening and immunisation programs
• funding and managing community and mental health services
• public dental clinics
• ambulance and emergency services
• patient transport and subsidy schemes
• food safety and handling regulation
• regulating, inspecting, licensing and monitoring health premises

Shared responsibilities

The Commonwealth also shares responsibility with the states and territories for other activities under national agreements such as the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). These other activities include:

• funding public hospital services
• preventive services, such as free cancer screening programs including those under the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program
• registering and accrediting health professionals
• funding palliative care
• national mental health reform
• responding to national health emergencies

..and local government has a role too eg leg work for food safety and p health eg immunisation..ie three levels of govt.. really inefficient model that should be reformed but there are too many snouts in the trough😐

Originally Posted by bob10

Aren't they one and the same? You can't have the job without the power and responsibility, surely?

Powers are often delegated or officers are authorised under whatever leg is needed. Eg police can become authorised under the PHA. I was authorised under 5 Acts or more.. I forget🙄

Originally Posted by INter674

really inefficient model that should be reformed but there are too many snouts in the trough😐

too true

There's been a lot of speculation about how the Ruby Princess passengers were allowed to disembark, with the federal, state and other parties trying to blame each other, so I thought this story was particularly informative.
It puts evidence so far to the royal commission into a day by day summary of what actually happened, and who did what when. Very interesting.
My conclusion is all parties played a role in the stuff-up and none can deny a share in the responsibility.

Anatomy of a cruise: how the Ruby Princess came to dock and disembark with coronavirus

Anatomy of a cruise: how the Ruby Princess came to dock and disembark with coronavirus | Australia news | The Guardian