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

Let me reject the propositions that are being put forward. The opposition have really missed the point of what I have indicated. What this government has done, in contradistinction to what the Liberals did when they were in government, is deliver $750 million for emergency departments across 50 hospitals. That is what this government has done in the health and hospital system, unlike those opposite, who did not look at how to deal with the health and hospital system over the period they were in government. We have also delivered $600 million for elective surgery waiting lists, which is an extra 41,000 operations, and stage 2 of that is for 109 hospitals. This government has put its money where its mouth is and has started to address the serious difficulties that have been experienced in health and hospital systems across Australia—unlike those opposite, who did not turn their minds to how they could fix the health and hospital system. They did not start the process. This government has started the process and has been putting the effort in. (Time expired)