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

Interestingly, the members from Queensland are interjecting. Perhaps the members from Queensland want to explain why they do not think we should give Queensland $27 million to undertake 4,000 procedures for Queenslanders who live in the electorate of the members who are interjecting. You do not want the people who are waiting for knee surgery, cataract surgery or hip surgery to have their procedures done? It would be interesting if the members opposite objected to the government paying for 25,000 people to have their elective surgery done across the country. Perhaps they want to stand up and say why they are against families in their electorate getting assistance from the federal government, when they know full well that the previous government ripped $1 billion out of the public hospital system. The Leader of the Opposition, even with this background in health, the member for North Sydney and the member for Warringah all stood by in the previous cabinet and let that $1 billion be ripped out of our system. So don’t all come in here and complain about us, piece by piece, trying to fix the system and the mess that you left.

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