Labor has backed the Australian Medical Association’s call for an independent commission of inquiry into Tasmania’s public health system, less than two weeks after the health minister ruled one out.
Labor MLC and shadow health minister Sarah Lovell said she had consulted doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health workers and their message had been clear.
“The system is in crisis and patching one problem at a time isn’t working,” she said.
“There are people literally dying because they’re not able to get an ambulance in time.”
Two Tasmanian men died in October after delays in getting an ambulance. In Zeehan, a man died before a crew from Burnie arrived 78 minutes after he called for help.
In Hobart, a man died in hospital after his family drove him there because no ambulance was immediately available. His death was referred to the coroner.
Lovell said more than 9,500 Tasmanians were waiting for elective surgery and about 78,000 were on the outpatient appointment waiting list.
She said the government had “not really paid much attention” to the recommendations of previous inquiries.
She said a commission of inquiry could make recommendations that would “carry enough weight for the government to have the political will to implement them”.
Health Minister Bridget Archer told parliament on October 27 that a commission of inquiry could cost more than $30 million and would duplicate past reviews and an ongoing Legislative Council inquiry.
Lovell is deputy chair of that inquiry, which is examining the health department’s financial and operational performance.
“A costly, years-long inquiry would not help a single Tasmanian patient get the care that they need when they need it,” Archer said at the time.
Lovell disputed the cost estimate, saying a health inquiry could have a narrower scope than the commission into institutional child sexual abuse.
The government put the direct cost of that commission at $27.4 million.
“We’re looking at one system and one department,” she said.
Lovell said Tasmania could also learn from New South Wales, where a special commission of inquiry into healthcare funding reported in 2025.
She said the government’s “only plan” was to cut $700 million from the health system. “That is not a way forward,” she said.
The state budget sets out about $702 million in savings for the health department over four years. The government says overall health spending is budgeted to rise.
Responding to Labor’s announcement on Sunday, Deputy Premier Guy Barnett said the government still opposed a commission and was getting on with its health plan.
“Rather than having a bureaucratic inquiry we want to deliver more health services,” he said.
