Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise two serious matters: the cutting of health services and the cutting of education services within the electorate of Flinders. Most particularly, as members of this House may be aware, on 31 January this year, under the watch of the Rudd Labor government, Warley Hospital, a bush-nursing hospital which is community owned and has lasted for 84 years, closed against the will, against the desire and against the good interests of the people of Phillip Island. Warley Hospital closed because, out of an act of pure ideological vindictiveness, the Rudd government stopped a payment of $2½ million which would have given that hospital contemporary life and a long-term future. It would have given the people of Phillip Island significant health care, not just over the next decade but over the next generation and over the next half-century.

Let me go through some of the facts very briefly. This is a hospital which had received significant federal support over the last decade. But, most importantly, it had been starved of assistance from the state of Victoria. The hospital had warned that it would face a difficult future if it were not able to receive public beds. This community owned hospital served the people of Phillip Island for 84 years, but it was being denied access to public beds to serve the public on Phillip Island. It was finally knocked back late in 2007. At that point the hospital sought emergency assistance from the federal government. This occurred on the eve of the election. A promise was immediately made by the Prime Minister, through the Prime Minister’s office, and the health minister, Tony Abbott. That promise was to guarantee the future of Warley Hospital. That was followed by a short process of inquiry to receive as much information as possible, which led to the pledge of $2.5 million in order to guarantee Warley Hospital a future.

Warley Hospital was the centre and heart of the Phillip Island community. It was not a so-called private hospital, as the health minister in this place has sought to argue. It was a not-for-profit, community owned and community generated bush-nursing hospital. It provided services such as accident and emergency services after hours, postoperative recovery services and the very important service of palliative care, of providing a home and place for those who are facing their last days, in a way which was accessible to residents of Phillip Island so that family could be near those who were facing death. This is a fundamental role and it has been a part of the island and part of the health services, as I said, for 84 years.

After the election was over, contrary to expectations, the new government did not accept the pleas and the requests of the Phillip Island community, the board of Warley Hospital and of all of those involved. Instead of matching that promise made by the previous government, we saw Warley Hospital axed. The money was denied and, worse than that, there was no response from either the Prime Minister or the health minister to letters sent in late January by the chairman of the board of Warley Hospital. There was no response to the request that they face the people of Phillip Island and explain why this hospital was about to be closed down, and there was no response in the most important element, which was the desperate request for funding.

This hospital has gone. The evidence from the local community is that people are being sent to Wonthaggi, a hospital that is itself experiencing serious difficulties, so it sometimes takes two or three hours before they can find a hospital to treat people with accident and emergency problems. This is a real blow to the community. On another occasion I will deal with the impacts of the loss of the Investing in Our Schools Program on primary schools such as San Remo Primary School, Cowes Primary School and Lang Lang Primary School. But now we grieve for the loss of Warley Hospital. (Time expired)