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

So, whether it is health policy, economic policy or tax policy, we have a Leader of the Opposition who is not interested in policy at all. On health and hospitals we have waited for a question on this all day from the Leader of the Opposition. You would think that, looking at the concern which the Australian people have about the future of their hospital beds, the future of doctors and the future of nurses, just one question would come forth from those opposite on health and hospitals, but there was not one. What has their response been? To try to shut the parliament down.

We understand why, however, on health and hospitals, because we have a Leader of the Opposition here who, when he was health minister, said, ‘There’s one thing for the Commonwealth to do and that’s to take the system over.’ He had five years to act on that and did not have the courage to act at all. Instead, when he was health minister, he ripped $1 billion out of the public hospital system and then put a cap on GP places. He was part of a government which abolished the Commonwealth dental scheme. And then what did he give? He gave that rock-solid, ironclad guarantee that nothing would ever happen with the Medicare safety net. But it all got summed up yesterday when, on the future of the health and hospital system he said, ‘We were gunna do it on the eve of the last election.’ Well, the Leader of the Opposition had better do a bit more ‘gunna-ing’ between now and the next election on health and hospitals, because his record is appalling and his plans are non-existent. I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.

See this speech in context