Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, it is a major mistake to confuse the member for Herbert with the member for Leichhardt. One who has not been protecting the interests of his community—the member for Herbert—and one who has been arguing for investments in health which have been committed and are starting to deliver in Cairns. In fact, the report that was released today makes clear that the additional surgeries undertaken in Queensland were only possible because our investments allowed seven major hospitals, including Cairns hospital in the member for Leichhardt’s seat, to expand capacity. Ipswich, Mackay, Nambour, Princess Alexandra, Royal Brisbane, Women’s, Toowoomba and Townsville—all of these hospitals are expanding.

We have not heard a single thing from those opposite, even from the Queensland members who stand to benefit from these investments, on how they will make sure that they are protected from the knife that Mr Abbott always wields when he gets to be in charge of health expenditure. One billion dollars ripped out of our hospitals and now we have these investments at risk. He has already promised in the budget reply that more than $800 million will be ripped out. The member is in such intense discussion now, because he does not like looking at me when I talk from the dispatch box for some reason, and will not even commit to extra investments in primary care. The member for Dickson has promised to rip nearly half a billion dollars out of diabetes initiatives.

We just ask, simply: what is next? What expenditure in health is free from the razor gang that are in cahoots over there because they do not like listening to these success stories when 76,000 extra people have been assisted by our investments and many, many more thousands stand to benefit in the future, so long as Tony Abbott does not wield the knife that he wielded when he was the health minister.

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