Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed. I apologise. The Australian Labor Party is going to put upwards of a million people into our public hospital system, which they are not prepared to put any further money into. And what did the Western Australian health minister say? ‘Not on your sweet Nellie! We are not interested,’ is what he said. ‘You put some money up to counter what is going to happen, and we will talk about it.’ This was not done with any consultation at all. One of the most fundamental challenges of any government is to make sure that the community has appropriate levels of health. That surely is one of the most basic things that everyone in this chamber is here for—to make sure that we provide a decent health system. Whether it is your side or our side, surely that is one of those basic obligations that we have as members of parliament. And what has been done under this measure? There was no consultation with the health department, no consultation with industry, no consultation with the very people who deliver the public hospital system in this country—the state governments, the state health departments—and you want to put a million people back into a system that you, Mr Acting Deputy President, and I know, and those in this chamber know, is already under significant stress. I cannot for the life of me understand what motivated this decision. I can tell you that, if the government reverses it, I will be the first one here to congratulate them, because this issue has got to be addressed.

Mr Acting Deputy President, the whip is quite rightly indicating to me that we want to get through this non-controversial legislation, and I accept that. There are a large number of bills to deal with. I thank the Senate for the opportunity to address this.