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Shooting the messenger

BMJ 1996; 313 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.313.7062.902a (Published 12 October 1996) Cite this as: BMJ 1996;313:902

New South Wales's health minister, Andrew Refshauge, is not likely to forget the past few months. He has endured everything but a public flogging from the opposition, sections of his own party, truculent hospital doctors and their community supporters, and a media circling round like vultures over carrion. Refshauge is only the second medically qualified health minister in the state's history and a member of the only Labor government in a country now otherwise run by Liberals (conservatives), hellbent on steering the country's health system toward privatisation. What has he done wrong? Refshauge's troubles stem from his unrelenting efforts to resdistribute hospital resources in Sydney more equitably.

Most of Sydney's population already lives in the grossly under-resourced outer residential belt, to …

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