Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I was pointing out that a number of those on the Labor frontbench believe that the member for Jagajaga is way out of touch. We have the member for Batman, the member for Wills, the member for Hunter and the member for Barton. The very wise and very experienced member for Hotham also supports this plan. How many other members of the Labor frontbench—you are smiling—or the backbench would rather support a plan that was embraced by all state Labor premiers: Mike Rann, Paul Lennon, Steve Bracks, Morris Iemma, Clare Martin and Jon Stanhope? They all support this plan. But, once again, federal Labor have taken the soft political option and they are bailing out the member for Jagajaga. Member for Brand, this is not about saving the member for Jagajaga; it is about building a sustainable health workforce. Yesterday, I tabled the instrument that would enable us to increase the number of medical places in Australian universities. The clock is still ticking.

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