Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The member for North Sydney says the Auditor-General of New South Wales is completely wrong and that he, the member for North Sydney—the then adviser, I presume, to the then Premier of New South Wales—was right. I will let others account for the history of that.

The honourable member raises an important question about the state of the hospital at Port Macquarie. He asked specifically about an update on the progress of his submission to the Health and Hospitals Fund. I cannot give that to him. I will inquire after question time from the Minister for Health and Ageing as to the status of his submission. More broadly, could I say in response to the honourable member that the purpose of the Health and Hospitals Fund is to provide support for further injections into the public health system of Australia. I would note also for the record, in response to the honourable member’s question, that the fund is directly opposed by those opposite. Their position on investment at the national government level into the health and hospitals of Australia is that they refuse to take any role in sharing the burden. That is reflected in their vote and their participation in the debate on that fund when that matter was in the House some time ago. That is the first point.

The second point goes to the Council of Australian Governments, agreement on health and hospital funding, which was reached between the Commonwealth and the states at the end of last year. That agreement contained a $64 billion Australian healthcare agreement, which represented a 50 per cent increase on the previous healthcare agreement negotiated between the previous Liberal-National Party government and the states and territories. What has the opposition said about that COAG agreement? They have said they would not have signed it; they would not have provided that funding. This is where we get to the absolute core of the difference between our attitude to supporting investment in the health and hospital system of Australia and the attitude of those opposite. As part of that health and hospitals agreement, we provided $1.1 billion to train more doctors, nurses and other health professionals, $750 million to take pressure off emergency departments, $872 million for the first-ever preventative health partnership and half a billion in measures to provide additional subacute care. These are practical measures which the Commonwealth and the states and territories—Liberal and Labor—sat down and agreed together here in Parliament House in Canberra at the end of last year. But let it be stated clearly for the record that the member for North Sydney, the shadow Treasurer—and I am pretty sure it was on radio, Joe—said that he would not have signed that agreement. In other words, in reality what the member for North Sydney and the Liberal Party said to state and territory governments and to the 700-plus hospitals across the country was, ‘We are not going to be there at all.’

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