Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

The member for North Sydney said that the previous government set the bar quite high in what they had done. But put that aside for one minute. Let us have a look at what they actually did: they ripped $1 billion in funding from our public hospitals. That is why we have this bill today. They did that over the course of the previous healthcare agreement. They abandoned the people of Australia when it came to hospital funding, so it is great to see this bill going ahead.

This bill is also significant because it is a major part of this year’s Health and Ageing budget, which for the first time will be above $50 billion. Finally, it is significant because it signals the end of the blame game and the beginning of a new era of cooperation, allowing us to deliver better health services across Australia together with the states and territories. That is what we are committed to doing. We are committed to rebuilding the Australian health system after nearly 12 years of coalition neglect. Of course, it will take a little while to do that, but we are committed to achieving that. We are really proud of the very strong start we have made in health, and we are determined to continue as we have begun.

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