Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his comments, and I will proceed with my gentle, probing questions. Our world-class healthcare system is relied upon by all Australians to ensure their safety and wellbeing. Nobody in this building disagrees with that. It is, therefore, critically important that the Albanese government continues the coalition's track record of investing record funding into Australian health care and ensuring the sector's continued viability into the future. However, despite Labor making health and aged care their headline platform during the election, the Albanese Labor government's budget is, unfortunately, further proof that we don't have the important detail.

It's clear that the pandemic will have a significant and ongoing impact on Australia's healthcare system. Elective surgeries have been deferred for almost three years, and a concerning number of screenings and check-ups have been delayed due to COVID over this period. Yet the government's budget makes it clear that they do not have a plan to address these issues. There is no mention in the budget of the critical impact this will have on our hospital system and no measures that are specifically targeted at alleviating these pressures. In fact, the budget removes any additional support provided to our healthcare system to assist with the increased pressures of COVID from the end of this year. That support that was there, that support that is still needed, has been removed. Does that mean Mr Albanese has received advice that the impact of the pandemic will no longer be felt by our hospital system after this year? If he does have such advice, it should be shared with the Australian public by this government that was elected on a platform of transparency.

What's even more concerning is the $2.4 billion reduction in hospital funding to the states and territories contained in the government's budget over the next four years. This is despite Finance Minister Gallagher's acknowledgement that the government is expecting that demand for hospital services will continue to grow as we normalise back into a post-COVID world. In the same budget paper that includes the funding decrease, Budget Paper No. 1, the government has also acknowledged that there will be expected growth in the assistance to states for public hospitals largely reflecting anticipated growth in the volume of services, yet this is not reflected in the $2.4 billion reduction in assistance that is provisioned in the budget. Minister, if the government knows that demand for hospital services is expected to continue to grow over the forward estimates, why have you not provisioned for additional funding in the budget? I can only be left to assume that it's purely an accounting trick to help the Treasurer with his budget bottom line.

I want to talk about urgent care clinics. On the topic of assisting our hospital system with increased pressures, Labor points, as they should, to their urgent care clinics election commitment. This is another measure that falls into this emerging trend of making an announcement with no detail to underpin and demonstrate its implementation. Minister, how is your government addressing concerns that the clinics are likely to fragment care? Can you provide any reassurance that these clinics won't add to the workforce pressures that are being experienced across Australia, particularly in rural and regional Australia?

On the eve of the election, Senator Gallagher made a commitment that the clinics would be delivered in six months time. It was confirmed in budget estimates that the government is still promising this deadline to the Australian public. However, the inability of Minister Gallagher to even provide the locations of the urgent care clinics in budget estimates has left us with absolutely no confidence that this delivery will be met. Minister Gallagher even admitted that there is still work to do to improve the urgent care clinic policy model. So, Minister, can you confirm when these clinics will be up and running, considering that the policy has not even been finalised? I note that one of those clinics is in my hometown of Albury. Please put it to the top of the list. It mightn't be the best solution for public patients and emergency waiting rooms, but we would welcome anything additional in rural and regional Australia. I sincerely hope that the government's intention to deliver the urgent care clinics within the next six months is not just an aspirational target from the Albanese government, because Australians cannot afford more headline commitments which don't deliver genuine outcomes.

Considering the small number of urgent care clinics that have been announced across the country relative to the size of the issues facing our healthcare system, I am also interested to know whether the government is considering any further measures to address the increased pressure on our hospitals. Right now, Australia's healthcare system and its hardworking workforce needs certainty that they will be supported. Once again, we aren't seeing much beyond the headline announcements, and we really need details and a plan to address the real issues. So, Minister, what is the government's plan to support the healthcare sector throughout this period of increased pressure?

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