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

He never made it that far? I lost count of what he was responsible for, but can I say: for 12 years they did two things. Firstly, they pulled out a billion dollars from the public hospital system in Australia and, secondly, they put forward no reform plan at all for the future of our hospitals, for the future of Australia—not one. All they did was play the old game: blame the states, make sure that you can whip it up into a frenzy prior to an election, get through, make sure that you did not cop any responsibility yourself and get home free. That was their approach. Ours is different. You have seen it in the Bennett commission report. That is the blueprint we have put out there. We are consulting with hospitals around the country at the moment and we will adhere to the timetable that we have foreshadowed, which is in close consultation with the states and territories, because the nation wants long-term hospital reform. We intend to deliver that in partnership with the states and territories.

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