Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

You asked what it was for and I am telling you what it is for: it is for replacing medicines in the national medical stockpile. The reason we need to replace those medicines is because, in the event that Australia is faced with an outbreak of disease, it is very likely that Australia will not be the first or the only country facing that same disease. As we have seen with SARS and H1N1, and more recently with H7N9, the issue is that it is not just Australia that needs these medicines quickly. There is competition around the world for medicines that can prevent outbreaks of disease or treat outbreaks of disease. When we enter that international competition at a time when there is demand around the world, the danger is that we will be last on the list. We need to stockpile medicines to make sure we are protected from outbreaks of disease. That $17 million replenishes that.

The member asked about hospital data for 2011-12. I do not know why the member is asking about that in this budget consideration. That is information that is collected by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority. They have the information that they need to calculate the efficient price because it is based on 2010-11 data.

I am sure Victorians will be very pleased that you have raised this: Victoria has not submitted data on the most recent quarter of October-December 2012, but this does not affect the calculation of the national efficient price. The Victorian health minister and the Victoria government have been spectacularly bad at providing the data necessary. The reason is that every time they provide data it shows they are going backwards. Their waiting lists are getting longer, their emergency department waiting times are getting longer—every time they provide data it shows that despite massive increases in federal funding on every single measure the health system that the poor Victorian patients are faced with is getting worse. I will let David Davis know that you are very concerned about the fact that he is not providing his data.

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