Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister update the House on how the government is implementing its plan to secure the future health and wellbeing of all Australians?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. Since 2007, Labor has delivered stronger health services and our plans for the future are very clear: more doctors, more nurses, more allied health professionals, more beds, less waiting, building and rebuilding of our hospitals and GP services, expanded primary care, cheaper medicines, dental care, cancer prevention and services.

When I heard that Real Solutions was coming out, I thought that I had better set some time aside to read the health section but, as it happens, I did not need very much time at all. There is not much planning there—a one-page list of slogans. You only need to look at the states to be able to read the tea leaves.

Mr Tudge interjecting —

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Aston is warned!

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Queensland: cuts of $1.6 billion. In Victoria: $616 million cut. We are investing in reducing waiting times for hospital patients with projects like the $15 million to expand the surgery centre at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Victoria that was opened earlier this month. Part of more than $1 billion in capital and facilitation money was set to reduce emergency department and elective surgery waiting times. However, we see that despite this new investment waiting times in states like Victoria have been going backwards for a year—longer waiting times in emergency and longer lists for elective surgery.

We are putting primary care in the hands of local communities through Medicare Locals. The shadow minister said he wants to slash thousands of jobs from Medicare Locals: doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. We have seen the rebuilding that is on top of the cuts in Queensland—4,000 health workers were cut by Campbell Newman. We are building and rebuilding hospitals and GP clinics. Just this morning, I turned the first sod on the new Canberra GP super clinic and, more recently, I was in Gosford, with the member for Robertson, looking at her beautiful new site for a GP super clinic up there.

In dental care, $5 billion will be invested in dental care over coming years, with $2.7 billion so that 3.4 million kids can see a dentist as easily as they now see a GP and almost $2 billion extra invested into public dental that is already taking people off waiting lists in the ACT, Tasmania, South Australia and very soon in New South Wales.

Real Solutions has a lot of aspirations. It has a lot of slogans, but not much detail there. In fact, I have seen more detail in a fortune cookie in the last week.