Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The federal coalition government has delivered increased funding for Metro North Hospital and Health Service by 38 per cent, which is good news for the residents in Petrie, in my area. The government has delivered an increase of $120 million to Redcliffe Hospital alone. I was recently up at Redcliffe Hospital because my father-in-law had a fall. I want to thank the Queensland Ambulance Service and all the staff at Redcliffe Hospital for looking after him—they really did a great job—including all the auxiliary staff, administration staff, nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and even the groundsmen and maintenance workers. Thank you for what you do to keep the Redcliffe Hospital going well and operating well. It's really important.

The truth is that the coalition federal government, as I said before, is investing record amounts in health. We're able to do it because we've had strong economic growth in Australia, including an increase in the number of jobs, and we're putting that extra income tax back into health services. At the same time, despite the 38 per cent increase for metro north health services in Brisbane, we've seen the Queensland Labor state government cut funding by $21 million to the Redcliffe Hospital. I'd ask the Labor Party to call on Steven Miles to increase that funding back to the Redcliffe Hospital.