Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting that government backbenchers are prepared to ask about a Labor program that was in place. They are prepared to acknowledge that there was a Commonwealth program in place to help the states in dealing with this issue. If you want to make a comparison: the Prime Minister is saying that he will do nothing about this situation. He is not prepared to take the leadership that a previous Labor government took in helping to solve this problem. It did not say it will blame the states or point the finger at someone else. It is a great pretence by the government to say that it is just a state issue. The Commonwealth has a role to play in this, but it is not prepared to play that role. It should be prepared to play that role because, every day in our electorates, people are suffering from the Commonwealth’s refusal to be involved.

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