Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to draw attention to the impact of recent health and hospital cuts on ordinary Australians, particularly those in my electorate of Lindsay. Since the Liberal government came to power, we have seen billions of dollars ripped out of hospitals right across this country. The Liberals opposite try to dodge responsibility on this issue by saying the cuts are made up and the money was never there. That is nonsense that completely ignores Labor's historical and deeply-held connection to universal health care.

The hospital spending plan under the last Labor government reflected the need within local communities. This government's cuts, which represent $57 billion less for health and hospitals around the country, are a direct attack on the healthcare needs of our nation. The Liberal Party is obsessed with cutting money from health care because they simply do not understand or appreciate the value and importance of universal access to health care. The fact is that decisions by the government mean hospitals right around the country will receive $57 billion less, had those decisions not been made, and that is from a government handing $50 billion to big businesses via the company tax. It is not hard to see where the priorities of the Prime Minister and his government lie.

Of course, this is not a one-off. It has been a recurring theme with Liberal governments since Medibank was established by Gough Whitlam in 1975. Not long after that, a Liberal government dismantled it by slashing funding and reducing rebates to doctors and hospitals under Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Luckily, Medicare as we know it today was brought back by the mighty Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1984. We have seen those opposite trying to dismantle it ever since. We saw the member for Warringah, when he was health minister in the Howard government, slash $1 billion from hospitals and cut the Medicare safety net. We saw the member for Warringah, as Prime Minister, cut $57 billion dollars from hospitals—a cut that has been carried forward in the Turnbull government. At a state level, we have seen the New South Wales Liberal government cut $3 billion from their health and hospital budget.

It does not change: everywhere you look, Liberals are taking a knife to the health services Australians, particularly in my electorate, rely on. In my electorate of Lindsay, Nepean Hospital is the most under-pressure hospital in the state. I have mentioned this a couple of times and everybody is going to get sore ears from listening. It has the worst emergency department wait times in New South Wales and the worst elective surgery wait times. At the last election, Labor promised to spend at least $88 million to immediately address the building and create the new cancer centre and more clinical and operating beds to relieve the pressure. The Liberals promised nothing.

It is a similar story in the New South Wales state government. So far, in the five years they have been in power, the out-of-touch Baird Liberal government has only just recently commissioned a study into the need for a hospital upgrade, and only $1 million has been committed by the member for Penrith.

Historically, it has only been Labor governments who have invested in Nepean Hospital and the community it serves. In 2010 the federal Labor government built six more operating theatres at Nepean Hospital. It replaced the old surgical wards with 60 new and upgraded beds; it built a new surgical outpatient clinic; it added extra day-only beds; it built a new renal dialysis unit for inpatients; it built a 64-bed mental health unit; it added an oral health building; and it built a 12-bed intensive care unit. Then, in 2012, Labor built a new medical school building offering bulk-billing for specialists and GP services, and spent a further $96.4 million redeveloping other parts of the hospital.

So Labor has a track record of investing in Nepean Hospital. Sadly, the Liberals have completely ignored the hospital in recent times, and the effects of that are showing up in the dangerous waiting times we are now seeing. I should note that the state Liberal government did spend $20 million on a car park at Nepean Hospital, which is now being operated as a paid parking lot by a private provider.

Nepean Hospital is at breaking point, and those Liberals opposite know that the current crisis was a significant issue at the previous election. The people of Lindsay made it very clear that they want their hospital properly funded, and they want a local member who will fight until this is delivered. My community deserves a hospital that is able to treat them within clinically recommended timeframes, not when it suits this government to pay for the hospital upgrades that it needs. We have Stuart Ayres, the member for Penrith, currently offering our residents a phony petition that is not even able to be tabled in the state parliament. It is a data mining exercise. My community deserves this hospital upgrade. So, yet again, I am calling on the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Aged Care to reverse their budget cuts and fund the Nepean Hospital upgrade immediately.

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