Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. I ask the minister what she is doing about the commitment by the Howard government of $500,000, supported by the Labor candidate in Barker, for the Keith District Hospital. Given that the hospital urgently needs $500,000 to build new consulting rooms and to access a range of health professionals for rural and regional South Australians, when will the minister commit to that funding?

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

I thank the member for his question. He would be well aware, particularly as we are having a fight across the parliament about blowing a huge multibillion-dollar hole in our surplus, that honouring Labor’s commitments at the election is our first priority. It was not a commitment made by the Labor Party, but I think that this is an important question because there are many, many pressures in rural hospitals; there are many pressures on rural GPs. We are certainly determined to get more funding into our health system, particularly through our public health services. We have put an extra $1 billion into public hospitals already, and several hundred million dollars of that has gone to South Australia for them to distribute to their country hospitals. They have recently withdrawn their strategy, something that we have supported to make sure that rural communities in South Australia can get the health care that they need. We will continue to keep working with the state governments to make sure we can deliver a better outcome, but we will be giving priority to commitments made by us.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Barker has asked his question.

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

We would like the Senate to allow us to fulfil our commitments. Then, of course, we will be happy to have discussions about any future commitments that members on the other side of the House might want us to make in health.