Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What I can say to the member is that the government did make promises about health before the election. We are honouring them. I have explained that we are working collaboratively on new Australian healthcare agreements, that we are working on reform, that the Prime Minister did say we would work through those processes first and that ultimately the buck did stop with him but that we would be working to improve health care.

What has this government done? We put $1 billion into our healthcare system. We put money into elective surgery waiting lists to make sure that people who were on queues for elective surgery would get assisted. All of that is additional resources above and beyond what the former government, the Liberal government—of which the member who asked me the question was a very senior member—provided. Above and beyond what the Liberal government put in, we have put in extra resources. I understand that the member is saying that there is more to be done in health, and I could not agree with him more. There is more to be done in health. We are working on new Australian healthcare agreements because we understand there is more to be done in health. But I would ask the member to reflect: given we have put in additional resources since the 2007 election, how bad was it when you were in government?

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