Opposition e-health spokesman Andrew Southcott said the Coalition would not vote against the legislation in the Senate, "consistent with what we did in the House of Representatives".
He told The Australian: "We are supporting this legislation, but we do think it should be debated
"There are some government amendments, and these will have to come back to the house as well. But it's on the Senate list for debate today, and the bill should be able to be dealt with this week."
It was the government's fault the legislation was not in place two weeks out from the July 1 launch date, Dr Southcott said.
"It's a very strange way to do things.
"When we introduced the GST, for example, we had the legislation in place 12 months before the start date.
"It's been totally up to the government when they introduced it, and when they brought it on for debate in the Senate -- the legislation was actually passed in the house in February," he said.
Dr Southcott said there would be little to show for the $700 million of taxpayers' money spent on the scheme to date. "They have been gradually winding back expectations of what will be available on July 1 -- in fact, there won't be much at all.
"Our view is that it would have been much better if the government had followed the recommendations of the national e-health strategy, which were to focus on quick wins and build on those incrementally.
"Had they done that, we would already have functional electronic prescriptions by now, and we'd be on the way to getting useful things that clinicians could actually use, like hospital discharge summaries.
"Instead, typically, (former prime minister) Kevin Rudd had to go for the big bang approach. Now it seems that on July 1 we'll have little to show for $700m."
While Liberal MPs supported the bills' passage in the lower house, they warned they might move changes in the Senate, following the conclusion of a Senate committee inquiry into the legislation and related matters.
The inquiry outcome in March was split along party lines, with the Labor majority recommending the bills be passed, while Coalition senators called for a one-year delay in the July 1, 2012, launch date so unresolved matters could be addressed.
The government has refused to consider any delay for the launch of the national patient information-sharing service, despite concerns expressed by a range of stakeholders.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Karen Dearne
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 18.06.2012
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