Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move opposition amendments (1) to (8) and (22):

(1) Clause 4, page 3 (lines 18 to 22), omit "Initially, the Fund's investments are a portion of the investments of the Health and Hospitals Fund which was established under the Nation-building Funds Act 2008. Additional amounts may also be credited to the Medical Research Future Fund Special Account.", substitute "Amounts are credited to the Medical Research Future Fund Special Account in accordance with determinations by the responsible Ministers.".

(2) Clause 5, page 5 (lines 22 to 24), omit the definition of Health and Hospitals Fund.

(3) Clause 5, page 5 (lines 25 to 28), omit the definition of Health and Hospitals Fund Special Account.

(4) Clause 10, page 12 (lines 6 to 10), omit "Initially, its investments are a portion of the investments of the Health and Hospitals Fund which was established under the Nation-building Funds Act 2008. Additional amounts may also be credited to the Medical Research Future Fund Special Account.", substitute "Amounts are credited to the Medical Research Future Fund Special Account in accordance with determinations by the responsible Ministers.".

(5) Clauses 12 and 13, page 13 (line 9) to page 14 (line 9), omit the clauses.

(6) Clause 15, page 15 (line 23), omit "amounts referred to in paragraph 34(4)(a) are", substitute "amount referred to in paragraph 34(4)(a) is".

(7) Clause 19, page 19 (line 6), omit "Agency; or", substitute "Agency."

(8) Clause 19, page 19 (lines 7 to 9), omit subparagraph (iii).

(22) Clause 34, page 27 (lines 15 to 20), omit paragraph (4)(a), substitute:

These are important amendments in the context of massive cuts to the Health portfolio under this government—cuts of more than $60 billion to hospitals that over time will have a devastating impact, an inevitable impact on emergency department waiting times and elective surgery waiting times. Labor's opposition to the abolition of the Health and Hospitals Fund and the transfer of the remaining $1 billion is consistent with our longstanding position that we will support health and medical research, but not if it happens and is funded in a way that hurts the patients of today.

The Health and Hospitals Fund has delivered significant benefit across Australia based on the clearest possible advice of experts. Unlike the way in which this government has drafted this bill, Labor established the Health and Hospitals Fund with proper governance and proper oversight. When Labor introduced the Nation-Building Funds Act in 2008—the act that established the Health and Hospitals Fund, among others—we also established an advisory board with oversight of the Health and Hospitals Fund. The Nation-Building Funds Act explicitly stated:

The function of the Health and Hospitals Fund Advisory Board is to advise the Health Minister about the making of payments in relation to the creation or development of health infrastructure.

I particularly want to make some mention of some of the projects that have been delivered under this fund and the positive impact that the fund has had on the health and wellbeing of Australians. I want to acknowledge the 24 regional cancer centres delivered across three rounds of the fund, including in areas where, up to the time of their opening, patients had to travel many hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometres to receive the best quality treatment for cancer. I refer in this regard to the services constructed in Townsville, Traralgon, Ballarat, Bunbury, and Whyalla in my state of South Australia, among others.

The Health and Hospitals Fund also contributed to countless other projects of significant value to communities across the country, including the Garvan St Vincent's Campus Cancer Centre in Sydney, the Nepean Clinical School, the Melbourne Neuroscience Project, the new rehabilitation unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, the Midland Health Campus in Perth, the Acute Medical and Surgical Services Unit in Launceston, and the research and training facility at the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, among many others. It is obvious that the Health and Hospitals Fund has had a significant benefit. This is something that should not be lost as a result of this government's broken promises and through its ongoing cuts to health funding.

The Prime Minister did of course promise before the last election that there would be no cuts to health. In opposing the abolition of the Health and Hospitals Fund, Labor is at least holding the government to account on the program in this area.

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