Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly thank the member for Braddon for his question. I can inform him and the House that the Howard government wants to make the Mersey hospital in Tasmania a Commonwealth funded, community controlled public hospital because the state government is proposing to withdraw acute services from that hospital and, in so doing, leave a catchment of up to 70,000 people without general hospital services. Let me say for the benefit of all members of this House, including the people who are chattering away and the person who is turning his back: taking over a public hospital is not an easy thing. There are the financial arrangements to be considered, there is the future of staff to be considered, but most of all there is the continuity of care of patients which needs to be considered, because that cannot be interrupted for a single hour if people are serious about health policy and health service delivery.

I can inform the House that, after a somewhat rocky start, discussions between the Commonwealth and the state of Tasmania are now progressing well and a binding agreement should be signed within a week. I was interested to note that the Tasmanian government is already spending some of the extra money that it will receive as a result of this agreement. Taking over one hospital is no walk in the park. Taking over the 750 public hospitals of Australia would be the largest financial and logistical undertaking this country has ever seen, involving billions of dollars in assets, $24 billion a year in recurrent funding and the futures of hundreds of thousands of staff, including 200,000 nurses. If members opposite are elected, this deal will be in the hands of the member for Griffith, whose previous experience is of closing 2,200 public hospital beds in Queensland, thereby earning him the nickname ‘Dr Death’.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will withdraw—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will withdraw that if it is an offensive term, but it cannot alter the reality. I say to the Leader of the Opposition, who seems to be attending now to the proceedings of the parliament: you cannot promise to take over 750 public hospitals and say, ‘Trust me; it will all come right on the night.’ You have to answer some specific questions. Who will be in charge of this health reform commission that will make recommendations about the process? What precise criteria will the state governments have to meet in order to avoid having their hospitals taken over?

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Gellibrand!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How will the Commonwealth claw back the $14 billion—

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Gellibrand is warned!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

every year that it will need to run public hospitals? What legal power does the Commonwealth have to coerce the states, as it will assuredly need to do when they refuse to cooperate? Most importantly, how much money does the Leader of the Opposition expect to save by ending duplication? How much money will he save and how many staff does he expect will be made redundant? These are serious questions and the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister cannot be taken seriously unless they answer them.

They were asked some of these questions the other day by Rhianna King of the West Australian newspaper, who said in her subsequent report of the member for Lalor:

She was unable to answer the questions, with a spokesman saying only that a range of factors would be considered.

Labor was also unable to say what would happen if some States signed up to the plan but others refused. And there were no details on the plan for regional and local authorities to manage hospitals in the event of a Federal takeover, with a spokesman saying only that the landscape would be reexamined in 2009.

The Australian people deserve better than that. They are talking about 750 institutions vital to the health and welfare of the Australian people. These are real hospitals, serving real patients, employing real staff, and those people need some answers. Maybe they can contract Barry Jones to provide a few answers, because ‘noodle nation’ will be a model of simplicity compared to the complexity of trying to take over 750 public hospitals. I know what I am talking about because I have thought this through in a way that members opposite have not. Unless they can come up with the detail on how this might happen, they will be exposed as complete and utter frauds, phoneys and charlatans who are more interested in a headline than a health service.