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

Let me deal first of all with Labor’s alleged plan. At no stage has the Leader of the Opposition outlined to the Australian people what the funding arrangements might be. It remains the case that, if the Commonwealth takes over every public hospital in this country, there will need to be a massive realignment of Commonwealth-state financials. You are looking at 40 per cent of the money that flows from the Commonwealth to the states and, if the Leader of the Opposition is to have any credibility on this policy, he has to either tell the states that he will take that money away from them or tell the Australian people that, in government, he would unite with state Labor premiers to increase the level of the goods and services tax.

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