Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite really need to hark back to when they managed the health and hospital system and led it into a billion-dollar debt. This government has undertaken the most comprehensive root-and-branch review of the health system ever. Ideas like a clearer separation between emergency and elective surgery have been proposed by the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, and we will be considering those recommendations very carefully. We are not going to be ruling any one target recommendation in or out. It is important for Australia to have strong public debate on the options put forward. I welcome the opposition engaging in the public debate, but they also need to put it in the frame of how they contributed to the health and hospital system when they were in government. This government is undertaking a significant health and hospital reform agenda that is going to deliver. We have already delivered $64 billion over five years in health and hospital funding—more than what the opposition considered.