John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

This Friday’s meeting between the premiers and chief ministers and me will be a special opportunity for the governments of this country to make a number of important practical decisions that will improve the lives of Australians, not least Australians who live in Far North Queensland.

The two most important issues to be discussed on Friday are areas of improved cooperation and investment in health, and also measures that are designed to break down absurd and outdated barriers in relation to skills, training and qualifications. I would call our health care and skills development the meat and potatoes proposals of this week’s COAG meeting.

The health reform package will have a number of very important elements in it, including better management of chronic disease, more support for cancer patients, better care for older patients in hospitals, measures to reduce the number of younger people with disabilities in nursing homes and better tailoring of rural health and community care programs to local needs.

The Commonwealth will go to this meeting in absolute good faith, and I am optimistic that the states will reciprocate. In many of the health areas the Commonwealth is prepared to make a significant financial contribution, even in one area—that is, caring for younger people with disabilities—where the overwhelming responsibility, under agreements negotiated during the lifetime of the former federal government, lies with the states.

As will be revealed on Friday, the Commonwealth is prepared to invest significant additional funds in all of these areas. We are prepared to address issues relating to nursing home type patients remaining in public hospitals, which has been a matter of continued criticism and concern from the states, justified or not. We will expect the states in return to match their responsibilities in a number of areas. The approach that I will be taking to Friday’s meeting is simply this: it is not a question of apportioning blame or fault; it is a question of the two levels of government working together. That is what I hope will happen.

Friday will not be a test, or a contest of wallets. It will be a test of goodwill on the part of the governments of Australia. Can I say in that context that there is no issue more absurd, particularly for people who live in Far North Queensland, for example, that we continue to have in Australia these ridiculous rail gauge problems when it comes to the recognition of trade qualifications across state boundaries. For example, I understand that you can get a hairdressing qualification in Western Australia and that you can carry on that occupation in England, but you cannot carry it on in some of the other states of Australia. I am pleased to tell the House that at an officials level there has been a great responses from the states to some practical proposals of the Commonwealth, and I am very optimistic that we are going to make progress.

The final thing I want to say is that issues relating to longer term economic reform will also be on the agenda. I welcome the support, particularly of the Victorian Premier, Mr Bracks, that has been expressed for longer term economic reform. Can I say in relation to that that I have noticed in the media some suggestions coming from some of the states that the states will only be prepared to move further on economic reform if the Commonwealth pays them in advance for doing it. That is not a tenable proposition. The idea that any government should reform areas of their responsibility only if they are paid in advance to do it is of course an absurd proposition. If there are economic reforms in Australia, it is true that there are increased revenues for both the Commonwealth and the states. The increase in the Commonwealth revenues may be greater than that of the states—may be greater—but I remind the House that, when you look at the aggregate expenditures for the future, the liabilities of the Commonwealth are in turn also greater. It is therefore only logical that the gains from revenue should be proportionate to those greater responsibilities.

I believe that with goodwill on both sides—and I will certainly take goodwill from the Commonwealth to this meeting—we can make some practical progress and that, out of this meeting at the end of this week, there will be real gains in areas that are of ongoing daily interest to the people of Australia.

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