Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It saddens me to have to rise today to highlight the coalition's additional broken promise in my electorate. It is very sad that we are seeing continual broken promises from this government less than five months since it was elected. There was a commitment from the coalition during the election campaign that it would not make cuts to health. However, very close to Christmas we saw the release of MYEFO and it was clear that there are cuts to health being made by this Abbott government. These cuts will hurt many, many people right around the country—many vulnerable citizens that are sick and need important services.

One of these cuts is at the Flinders Medical Centre. It was made clear in MYEFO that a cut to the expansion of the neonatal unit at Flinders Medical Centre would be made. I have received a letter from the Minister for Health saying that this funding will not occur, and it was confirmed by the release of MYEFO. Ripping $15 million away from the neonatal unit at the Flinders Medical Centre is atrocious; it is appalling. This neonatal unit is designed to help our most vulnerable citizens. Premature and sick babies who are fighting for life come to the Flinders Medical Centre. There are only two specialised neonatal units in the whole state. When I visited this unit, I found that it services not only individuals and families from South Australia but also people from across the border in Victoria.

At the moment we have seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of admissions at the neonatal centre, and as a result we are seeing a temporary overflow into temporary wards, which has caused significant problems for servicing by the health professionals who look after these vulnerable families. So it was very much welcomed when Labor committed $15 million to allow for the ward to be expanded and all the services for the patients and families to be together. Unfortunately, now we are seeing that money ripped away and, as a result, there will be many families that will not receive the space. This will, I think, put in jeopardy the care that they should receive.

I have to say that the nurses, midwives and doctors do an amazing job there, but they needed this investment to ensure that they could have the space to provide these important services. So I hope that the Minister for Health will reassess this. Around 200 babies are admitted to the Flinders neonatal intensive care unit annually from around Australia. I think people in South Australia who were looking at this investment, as with many other investments around the country, will be starting to question this government, which said there would be no cuts to health and that they would not go slashing and burning in the area of health. Unfortunately, we have seen the absolute opposite.

When Labor was in government, we invested significantly in expanding the capacity of our public hospitals. There were expansions earmarked across hospitals in South Australia, and these have been welcomed by many people wanting to see reduced waiting lists and being able to access services. That is why this investment was another important additional investment. I have yet to see from the Minister for Health the explanation of why this cut has been made. What was the basis for choosing to cut the $15 million? The South Australian government saw it as a priority. Unfortunately, this Liberal government does not see health as a priority. So once again I call on the Minister for Health to reconsider this cut, to reinstate the $15 million, which is so important, and not to break a fundamental promise that the government made to the Australian people that there would be no cuts to health. Of course we are seeing cuts right across the board, but in South Australia this cut will hurt many vulnerable families, and I ask the minister to reconsider.