Jodie Campbell (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The funding will begin to rebuild the health system after 11 years of neglect. This growth is the largest single-year increase in public hospital funding in almost a decade. I would really appreciate it if the minister could go into a little bit more detail on that. In addition, over $600 million is being provided over four years to help the states and territories reduce elective surgery waiting lists. Can I say that people in my electorate of Bass were certainly very appreciative of that. By the end of 2008, around 25,000 patients will have benefited from this plan, and I would be pleased if the minister could also expand on that. As of September 2007, more than 34,000 public patients requiring elective surgery, such as hip replacements and eye surgery, had not been seen within the clinically recommended time and, again, many of those patients were in my electorate of Bass. In 2005-06, more than 25,000 patients waited more than one year for elective surgery. That is totally unacceptable. The length of elective surgery waiting lists in our hospitals is a direct result of the previous government’s refusal to work cooperatively with the states and territories to tackle problems in our health system. Labor have said: no more buck passing, no more blame shifting.

As I have said before, I would like to thank the minister and the Prime Minister for visiting my electorate of Bass but also for putting $15 million on the table for the integrated care centre. It certainly is a welcome addition to the Launceston General Hospital. Minister, you have visited it on many occasions and you have seen firsthand how the renal unit, as it stands at the moment, is pushed to capacity. It has been asking for this funding for many years under the previous government; it has always been rejected. Minister, if you could perhaps explain when that $15 million will actually be expended and when the state government will actually receive that money, that would be appreciated.

I would like to quickly talk about the four-year elective surgery waiting list reduction plan. I understand that it comprises three stages. The first stage involves $150 million to conduct an immediate national blitz, which will help reduce the backlog of patients waiting longer than the clinically recommended time for the elective surgery; $150 million over two years to make improvements to the hospital system and elective surgery; and up to $300 million in dividend payments to states and territories, which will dramatically increase the number of elective surgeries completed within the clinically recommended time by the end of the four-year plan. Minister, I would be grateful if you could also expand on that, because people in my electorate are very interested.

As well as these immediate injections of funding, Labor are planning for the long-term future of the health system, something that was grossly neglected by people on the other side. If we are talking about health and about hospitals and funding, we need to look more at the long term than at just a bandaid solution, which is what the previous government did. Labor will be developing and delivering a long-term blueprint by June 2009. (Time expired)

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