Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill 2011 proposes to establish a new statutory authority, the National Health Performance Authority. It is in fact the fourth of a number of new bureaucracies which the Labor government has set up in the so-called pursuit of providing a better health service for Australia. While Labor has promised to do a lot in the field of health, in fact when one examines the record one finds that really very little has been achieved. Although I have only very limited time, I would like to remind the Senate of some of Labor's health record, which is not really one of success.

We recall that Labor promised to fix hospitals by 2009. Labor's claim of federally funded and locally managed hospitals was in fact specifically repudiated in the National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement signed by the states and was formally dropped by the government at the COAG meeting in February 2011.

As for ending the blame game, as Labor promised, the Australian Medical Association told an inquiry by the Senate Finance and Public Administration Refer­en­ces Committee into the COAG agreement on health and hospitals that the intergov­ernmental agreement would not 'end the blame game, but instead merely provide different opportunities to undermine and "game" the system.' So much for Labor's health re­forms. As far as waiting lists go, in 2007 Labor promised to:

… dramatically reduce waiting times for elective surgery such as hip and knee replacements in Australia's public hospitals.

The COAG Reform Council has confirmed what many had in fact suspected, that elective surgery waiting lists have not improved.

Debate interrupted.