Smoke from Canadian wildfires spreads into U.S. Midwest
Smoke from wildfires burning in three Canadian provinces is spreading into the U.S. Upper Midwest, stirring memories of the severe pollution that drifted south from Canada two years ago during that country's worst fire season on record. Syakir Jasnee reports.
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The Age
19 hours ago
- The Age
‘Over my dead body': Fight to keep Healthscope's hospitals alive just getting started
Canadian investment firm Brookfield is a global financial giant with a trillion dollars under management, yet it could not save Healthscope and decided to walk away with a $2 billion loss. In simple terms, it paid too much using too much debt, and sold off the land for many of these hospitals to landlords under deals that allowed them to charge too much for rent. As an interesting contrast, unlike Healthscope, Ramsay owns most of its hospitals and the land they sit on. It means Healthscope lenders who are owed $1.6 billion, including Australia's Big Four banks, will also wear massive losses once the proceeds of the sale are divvied up between them. The good news is that this will ensure the business is transferred with zero debt in any sale. Landlords will also be wearing a lot of the pain to help many of these hospitals become financially viable for a new private owner. The alternative is closure if state governments don't step into the breach. Healthscope's hospitals would be empty if doctors lost faith and moved their elective surgeries to private hospitals nearby. This explains why Healthscope reached its own abyss well ahead of its rivals, and faces a much larger challenge just to get back to the abysmal state the sector as a whole faces. Separate to this is the immediate challenge that La Spina faces in running the day-to-day operations at the hospitals, and it explains why his fireside chat came with so much heat: Healthscope desperately needs to keep faith with the many specialist doctors and surgeons who actually generate its revenue. Around 70 per cent of elective surgeries in Australia take place in a private hospital. La Spina knows that the last thing they want is Healthscope in the hands of a private health insurer, who could dictate how much a hip replacement should cost. Loading Healthscope's hospitals would be empty if these doctors lost faith and moved their elective surgeries to other private hospitals. If this business flows out the door, it doesn't matter what happens to its rent bill and debt levels. La Spina may not like it, but the truth is BUPA is almost certainly among the parties interested in buying either all of Healthscope's operations or parts thereof, and there is nothing he can do about it. His immediate priority is to keep the day-to-day business running while the lender-appointed receivers from McGrathNicol kick off the sales process next month, with as many as 30 parties interested in Healthscope as of this week. The receivers have one job, maximise the sale price and return as much money as possible to the lenders. Loading To this end, they are expected to focus on a single transaction involving all of Healthscope's assets - if possible. The price will be determined by the receiver's delicate dance with landlords over how much financial pain they are willing to endure to give potential suitors confidence they are buying a viable business. If the rent concessions are too low, the hospitals won't find a buyer and their staff could be out of a job. The success of any sale is also heavily dependent on whether all potential white knights are allowed to come to Healthscope's rescue.
Sydney Morning Herald
19 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Over my dead body': Fight to keep Healthscope's hospitals alive just getting started
Canadian investment firm Brookfield is a global financial giant with a trillion dollars under management, yet it could not save Healthscope and decided to walk away with a $2 billion loss. In simple terms, it paid too much using too much debt, and sold off the land for many of these hospitals to landlords under deals that allowed them to charge too much for rent. As an interesting contrast, unlike Healthscope, Ramsay owns most of its hospitals and the land they sit on. It means Healthscope lenders who are owed $1.6 billion, including Australia's Big Four banks, will also wear massive losses once the proceeds of the sale are divvied up between them. The good news is that this will ensure the business is transferred with zero debt in any sale. Landlords will also be wearing a lot of the pain to help many of these hospitals become financially viable for a new private owner. The alternative is closure if state governments don't step into the breach. Healthscope's hospitals would be empty if doctors lost faith and moved their elective surgeries to private hospitals nearby. This explains why Healthscope reached its own abyss well ahead of its rivals, and faces a much larger challenge just to get back to the abysmal state the sector as a whole faces. Separate to this is the immediate challenge that La Spina faces in running the day-to-day operations at the hospitals, and it explains why his fireside chat came with so much heat: Healthscope desperately needs to keep faith with the many specialist doctors and surgeons who actually generate its revenue. Around 70 per cent of elective surgeries in Australia take place in a private hospital. La Spina knows that the last thing they want is Healthscope in the hands of a private health insurer, who could dictate how much a hip replacement should cost. Loading Healthscope's hospitals would be empty if these doctors lost faith and moved their elective surgeries to other private hospitals. If this business flows out the door, it doesn't matter what happens to its rent bill and debt levels. La Spina may not like it, but the truth is BUPA is almost certainly among the parties interested in buying either all of Healthscope's operations or parts thereof, and there is nothing he can do about it. His immediate priority is to keep the day-to-day business running while the lender-appointed receivers from McGrathNicol kick off the sales process next month, with as many as 30 parties interested in Healthscope as of this week. The receivers have one job, maximise the sale price and return as much money as possible to the lenders. Loading To this end, they are expected to focus on a single transaction involving all of Healthscope's assets - if possible. The price will be determined by the receiver's delicate dance with landlords over how much financial pain they are willing to endure to give potential suitors confidence they are buying a viable business. If the rent concessions are too low, the hospitals won't find a buyer and their staff could be out of a job. The success of any sale is also heavily dependent on whether all potential white knights are allowed to come to Healthscope's rescue.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
My son's death was not in vain: Joe's Law means lives will be saved
I was often asked, 'How can you be campaigning for change so soon after Joe's death?' or one that close family would ask from a well-meaning place was, 'do you really want to be doing this?'. But my response came from deep grief and fierce love. How could I not be advocating for change? Joe's love and the need for justice and compassion is the driving force behind everything I do – it propels me forward every single day. We commit to standing firm in our belief that access to excellent healthcare is our universal right and should not be subject to substandard treatment at the hands of trillion-dollar private equity firms who only care about the bottom line and not the care of our patients in NSW. Joe lost his life due to a cascade of failures – beginning with the government's 2014 decision to adopt a public-private partnership (PPP) model for healthcare. What followed was a string of inadequate policies, broken processes, poor IT systems, individual failures by staff at the Northern Beaches Hospital and a false sense within the community that it was a safe hospital. The fundamental problem is that running acute and emergency services is not compatible with owning a profit-making business. This is the model at the Northern Beaches Hospital and it is broken. We learnt the Northern Beaches Hospital was controlled by Healthscope, a private company that was acquired in 2019 via a $5.7 billion takeover by Canadian private equity firm Brookfield. During the 2019 acquisition, Brookfield pledged to continue funding Healthscope's investments and growth. 'Brookfield intend to provide support for Healthscope to continue developments of existing sites and pursue growth opportunities.' This clearly has not happened. Loading As an asset manager responsible for critical infrastructure, Brookfield had a duty to invest in Northern Beaches Hospital when it mattered most. We believe Brookfield failed both the northern beaches community and the NSW government. In our view, they should no longer be allowed to operate and trade in Australia across any sector. We hear constantly from people in our community who are avoiding Northern Beaches Hospital in emergencies – too afraid to take their children or loved ones to an emergency department operated by Healthscope. While it isn't perfect, NSW has a public health system that is in many respects the envy of the world. The northern beaches are currently locked out of that standard of care. We will not stop advocating for our most vulnerable – babies, toddlers, the elderly – and every person in NSW who relies on a safe and dependable health system. Health must be the first priority on every political agenda. But I believe that when we make morally right decisions – ones grounded in truth, love, and collective resolve – there is nothing we cannot achieve. Joe's death will not define him. Change - and love - will have the last word. Stay with us, Joe, and guide us into the new tomorrow.
