ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study which examines the history of this dispute, attempts to discern the policy process that was at play, and provides some questions about protection of the public interest and the appropriate role of government. The Port Macquarie experience shows how contracting out the financial and operational management of health services opens up questions about continuing government responsibility for resources operating for the benefit of the population as a whole. The case study looks at the policy process, from the point of view of local community concerns and action and what that reveals about the policy process. Port Macquarie was targeted by the Health Department bureaucracy as a test case, a setting for adopting a contractual model of private capital investment and control in a public health facility. Health services in Port Macquarie were caught up in problems arising downstream from decisions on capital infrastructure spending and Loan Council regulations.
