Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure today to speak against the member for Ballarat's outrageous matter of public importance. The member for Ballarat's statement could not be further from the truth. In fact, it is the Abbott government who are actually protecting Australia's healthcare system by ensuring that it will still be functioning when the next generation want to use it. I want to make sure that our healthcare system is still around when my granddaughter Evie is an adult and might need it. That is what we are doing over on this side of the House.

The coalition's budget measures for health are all about building a strong health system. We are laying the foundations for a stable system that can absorb the pressures caused by an ageing population, by chronic disease and by higher costs. Medicare, the PBS and public hospitals have really been feeling intense pressure from these factors, and the coalition government is supporting these agencies by working with them to create strong plans for a sustainable future in health care. Expenditure on these has grown faster than the economy. We are focused on delivering a stronger, more stable health system for the future, and only the coalition government can deliver this system.

In my electorate of Solomon, I was able to secure—along with the health minister—$110 million to build a brand-new hospital to cater for the growth of health service needs in Palmerston and Darwin. My good friend, the Northern Territory health minister, Robyn Lambley, and her team are doing a fantastic job, delivering on this project. They are taking the time to make sure that we get it right and to spend the money wisely, because we all know that health money is very precious. We want to make sure that we have a hospital that is being built to cater for the needs of the Darwin and Palmerston residents of the next 50 years.

This is how the people of Darwin and Palmerston know that the coalition is taking health care seriously. People in my electorate know that the adults are now in charge of something as precious as our public healthcare system.

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