Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lingiari not just for her question but for organising our visit to the Alice Springs Hospital in December, where I had the pleasure of meeting the extraordinary team that works in the emergency department there—one of the outstanding EDs that I have visited in my time. The Alice's is one of 700 public hospitals in Australia. They employ about half a million hardworking doctors, nurses, health professionals and support staff. For 41 years—because Saturday was the 41st birthday of Medicare—a core Medicare principle has been the assurance that every Australian can access high-quality care in a public hospital completely free of charge. You simply can't have a strong Medicare without strong public hospitals.

We have a terrific public hospital system in Australia, staffed by probably the best-trained health workforce on the planet, but the truth is it's a system under very serious pressure. We're getting older as a population. We have more complex chronic disease. We have a serious legacy from the COVID pandemic and, frankly, more broadly in the healthcare system we are dealing with a decade of cuts from those opposite when they were in government. The existing public hospital funding arrangements simply are not fit for purpose. That's why we've been investing in urgent care clinics. That's why we've invested in state government initiatives to move longer-stay older patients out of the hospital system. But, in terms of public hospital funding, wage and activity pressure for hospitals means that right now the Commonwealth share of the hospital budget is declining. It's going to fall well below 40 per cent if we don't do something.

Well, we are determined to be a reliable partner, and that's why the Prime Minister today announced a $1.7 billion additional funding commitment by this government for the next financial year for every state and territory and that we would keep negotiating a longer-term five-year funding agreement with them. This will be especially good for the NT because, for over a decade, the NT has been chronically underfunded by the Commonwealth. This government will be the first government determined to fix that. The Northern Territory's funding from the Commonwealth will increase next year by 30 per cent, and the member for Solomon and the member for Lingiari have been arguing strongly for that for some considerable time.

I'm asked if there are any approaches that would leave Australians worse off. Well, perhaps the approach of the Leader of the Opposition when he was health minister might be instructive. Although he promised there would be no cuts to health in 2013, in 2014 he tried to rip $50 billion out of our public hospital system. His approach this year is a little different: he admits there will be cuts; he just won't tell people what they will be. We know what they will be, because this man favours long lunches over public hospitals and he needs to find $600 billion for nuclear power stations. He will come after Medicare again; you can be sure of that. (Time expired)

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