Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

It is nice to be debating health. I am just sorry that we did not get anything remotely resembling a debate from the shadow minister for health. It is all very well to express an aspiration; it is all very well to come up with a wish list. Under a bit of pressure the shadow minister said today that she had a serious plan to take pressure off emergency departments, she had a serious plan for dealing with avoidable hospitalisations and she had a serious plan to deal with the growing burden of chronic disease. She does not have a plan to deal with any of these issues. All she has is the expression of the desire to deal with them.

I accept that this government is far from perfect and I accept that you have never uttered the last word in healthcare policy. I accept that healthcare policy is always a work in progress. But it is not enough to say, ‘These are the problems we need to have solved.’ To be taken seriously you must have some idea as to how they might be solved. Of actual ideas, as opposed to a mere wish list, this shadow minister and this opposition are absolutely, utterly and totally bereft. I regret to say that what we have had from the shadow minister today is another illustration of just how shrill and shallow she is. I am afraid any objective observer listening to her performance would say: ‘Cliche piled on platitude, piled on wish list; utterly devoid of any hard policies to deal with serious, practical problems.’

See this speech in context