Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in consideration of the committee report of the Select Committee on Health, Hospital funding cuts: the perfect storm – The demolition of Federal-State health relations 2014-2016 final report. It brings me to the issues that we experienced during the federal election in my home state of Tasmania, particularly around the Launceston General Hospital and the Royal Hobart Hospital rebuild. We know that the Liberals went to the last election promising that there would be no cuts. Then they inflicted a billion dollars of savage cuts to Tasmanian hospitals—to the Launceston General Hospital, to the Royal Hobart Hospital and to the Mersey hospital. Since these cuts, there has been crisis after crisis at the Launceston General Hospital, lengthy delays to the ongoing development of the Royal Hobart Hospital and, during a two-week period in June, nine of the 11 specialist doctors from the hospital's emergency department resigned, retired or reduced their hours. The reason for these walkouts was aired in the media with staff saying they had lost faith in their ability to care for patients. A shortage of beds has led to people not only being admitted into hospital through the emergency department but for the first time in so long—longer than I can remember—there was a gentlemen in his 70s left for days in the emergency department at the Launceston General Hospital. We know that there was a woman down at the Royal Hobart Hospital who was left lying on the floor.

We know that the nursing staff have reported very dangerous working conditions due to the lack of resources. The community of Tasmania—and I know across the country in fact—has said enough is enough. Why has our only public hospital, the Launceston General Hospital, been forced into an untenable position whereby there have been walkouts, people walking off the job and people so stressed because they have not been able to deliver the services that they believe are essential to their local community?

What did we see during the federal election? We had the former member for Bass, Mr Nikolic, responding to the concerns of the people in his community by saying that this was a state issue—that is all he could come up with. The Tasmanian community will not stand by. They have demonstrated resoundingly at the last federal election that they will not stand by and allow governments to cut, cut and cut their health services. They will not allow a government to get away with threatening to derail and destabilise Medicare, our great public health system in this country—or the one that we have had and we aspire to have the best in the world.

We know that even the Liberals are going off against very conservative people by trying to blame a legislative councillor in the north of the state for holding a press conference in relation to the crisis at the hospital. It is pretty serious when you have the AMA, GPs and pathologists all campaigning against you at a federal election. They are not natural supporters of the Labor Party; they are not a group of people you would expect to go out campaigning against a Liberal federal government.

But the local member, the former local member, failed to protect the Launceston General Hospital from these cuts. He failed his community. Because he did not listen to his community, they voted him out. There is no-one else to blame for his demise but himself and his government's policies that he espoused on a daily basis.

As I said in a speech earlier this week, we know that his mantra was: 'Jobs and growth. Jobs and growth. Jobs and growth.' I tell you across the rest of Tasmania people were saying: 'No more cuts. No more cuts to education. No more cuts to our health system, and we will never allow you to undermine Medicare.' That was the outcome.

Quite clearly, we know that the former member failed to not only listen to but engage people within his community so he paid the highest price: they voted him out. But, earlier this week in a speech, I spoke about the three amigos, the three arrogant and out-of-touch House of Representatives members from Tasmania—now former members—the members for Bass, Lyons and Braddon. I said to them that I had brought a message from the Tasmanian community and that was: adios amigos. But I can see that, instead of taking my very sound advice, Mr Nikolic has not ridden out of town, because he has given me the great honour of a story that appeared in our local great newspaper, The Examiner, online. I quote from his Facebook page, which said:

Disappointing to see Labor Senator Helen Polley still celebrating her involvement in nasty, false and personal politics.

Quite clearly, Mr Nikolic, you still have not learnt from your firsthand experience of being defeated in the election, because you failed your constituency. There was nothing at all that I shared with the community that was nasty. There was certainly nothing that was false. There was certainly nothing from me that was a personal attack on him. What I did do was remind the community, which is my responsibility, of all the things he voted for when he was the member for Bass. I highlighted the fact that he failed to stand up for our health system. He failed to provide the funding that we need for education; in fact, they cut money.

Mr Nikolic also failed older Tasmanians, because it was his government that over the last three years gutted aged care. They used it as an ATM to take $3 billion away from older Australians. I do not think that is a record that he should be proud of and I do not think he should be offended because I reminded the community of his failings as a member. I never made a personal attack on him whatsoever—none whatsoever—but I did my job as a senator for Tasmania: I went out and campaigned to ensure that they had the best representation possible. It is fantastic to finally have Labor members, once again, like Ross Hart, the new member for Bass, along with his colleagues Justine Keay and Brian Mitchell, who will be good listeners for their communities. They will stand up and fight for their communities, and they certainly will not turn their backs on the people who elected them.

I say again that this government have an opportunity. They were re-elected, but with that comes enormous responsibility. The responsibility that they have, as every federal government has always had and always should, is to look after those people who are most vulnerable in our communities. We had a speech from a new government senator from Tasmania, who I thought made some fantastic comments. He is a proud Tasmanian, as am I, and I suggest that those opposite and the leadership of the government should sit down and talk with him, because he has some good ideas, and I believe he will be a strong voice for his constituency.

When it comes to things such as aged-care policy, we need to have a bipartisan approach because we have a responsibility as elected senators and as members of the opposition and the government, as I said, to look after those who are most vulnerable in our communities. And I am sad to say that the 44th Parliament, under the leadership of Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull, failed miserably. (Time expired)

I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted.