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

the responsibilities given to it by the Australian Constitution. That is where you stop the blame game. Let me make it very clear. My colleague—my esteemed colleague, my valued colleague; a colleague for whom I have great affection—the Minister for Health and Ageing has said things about the Commonwealth taking over public hospitals. That is not my view. I believe state hospitals are best run by state governments, and if you are interested in cooperative federalism the last thing you do is give total responsibility to the Commonwealth government for fundamental areas like health.

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