Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Not only that; he said that, if state governments had not improved services by 2009:

A Rudd Labor Government will seek to take financial control of Australia’s 750 public hospitals …

That was to be by mid-2009. What is it now? I think it might be February 2010. He broke his promise to the Australian people; he misled them. He hoodwinked the Australian people into believing that he would actually fix the public hospitals, that he actually cared enough to fix the public hospitals, that he actually wanted to fix the public hospitals. And guess what? He is the Prime Minister, and he can make the decisions—and he can, but he chose not to; he broke his promise to the Australian people. This very issue, health, is the most important issue to people across Australia, and he simply turned his back on the Australian people and said, ‘Too hard; can’t do that one.’ What was it he said? He said something about a compromise with the state governments. So he has gone from being all hairy-chested, beating his chest before the last election campaign saying, ‘I’ll fix the hospitals; the buck will stop with me’—