Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Ludwig. Can the minister inform the Senate of the government’s achievements and plans in the health area? In particular, can the minister update the Senate on the government’s increased funding for public hospitals and outline how this is an improvement on past approaches?

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

I thank Senator Carol Brown for her question, and I note her particular interest in the government’s commitment to improving the health system. The Rudd government is investing more in our public hospitals than any previous Australian government. In the last two years the Rudd government has worked hard, rebuilding public hospitals after a decade of neglect by the former government and its health minister, who is today the Leader of the Opposition. Yet even while the Leader of the Opposition froze the number of GP training places when he was the relevant health minister, and was ignoring the desperate need for more nurses, the Leader of the Opposition calls that decade of neglect ‘the good old days’ for our hospitals.

Let us think back over that last decade they were in government, 2007-08. Hospital admissions grew by a million and presentations for emergency departments grew by two million. But the extreme response from the Leader of the Opposition was to rip a billion dollars out of our health system, our public hospitals, to cap GP places and to blame the states for all the problems it would cause. On this side of the Senate we take a different view to that of the Leader of the Opposition. We do believe the health system needs reform and we do not believe that the Australian public can trust the Leader of the Opposition, who placed our health system at risk and ripped a billion dollars out of our public hospitals. What this government is working towards is building a world-class health system. Some of our key achievements, so far, include the government’s record $64 billion funding agreement for health and hospitals. This agreement was a 50 per cent increase on the previous government’s funding agreement. (Time expired)

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister explain to the Senate how the government’s health measures have been met by the community?

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

I thank Senator Carol Brown for her supplementary question. The community has been very supportive of our health reform aims but, in the process, we seem to meet nothing but obstruction from the extreme opposition, particularly in the Senate. For example, the problem of teenage drinking has been widely discussed, yet the opposition initially failed to support the government’s bill that would have attacked the problem of teen consumption of alcopops. There is also broad community support—for example, behind the recommendations of the Preventative Health Taskforce—yet the opposition has blocked the establishment of the national preventative health agency, a key reform to address the burden of chronic disease currently caused by obesity, tobacco and excessive consumption of alcohol. Reports such as this should be guiding the reform of a health system that is becoming unsustainable after 12 long years of neglect and inaction by the Howard government. (Time expired)

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister outline for the Senate the government’s long-term plans to ensure high quality health care for an ageing population?

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

I thank Senator Carol Brown for her supplementary question. As the Intergenerational report says, from 2010 Australia’s population is ageing. Between now and 2050 the number of people aged between 65 and 84 is expected to more than double, and the number aged 85 and over is expected to more than quadruple. Our ageing population will result in substantial fiscal pressures from rising health costs. From 2009-10 to 2049-50 real health spending on those aged over 65 is expected to increase around sevenfold. The choice for the Australian people on health will be between Mr Rudd—as a safe pair of hands—who wanted to plan for these challenges, and plan for the future— (Time expired)