Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion before the House on health services raises some very important issues, none more important than the fact that licences for PET scanners under the previous government were very slow to be granted. It is interesting that the member for Herbert is in here arguing for a PET scanner for North Queensland. Under the last government there were numerous applications put in for the licensing of the PET scanner that was already at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle. The Mater Hospital is one of the leading hospitals in treating cancer in New South Wales, and for that matter throughout Australia.

I wrote letters to the previous health minister that were never answered. In consideration in detail of estimates last year I asked the minister if he could give me some information and give consideration to the licensing of the PET scanner in the Hunter. My question to the minister was never acknowledged or answered. The Minister for Ageing at the time summed up the debate and did not choose to deal with that part of the question. The opposition come with very dirty hands from the time that they were in government.

During the election campaign the Rudd government gave an undertaking that we would fund a PET scanner in the Hunter. That undertaking was given on 7 September. It will be no surprise to the House to learn that on 21 September the me-too member for Paterson gave an undertaking on behalf of the then Howard government that they would do the same. If there was ever an example of me-tooism, it was exhibited there. I am pleased to say that the people of the Hunter will have that PET machine licence at the Mater—something that is vital for the region that the Shortland electorate covers and vital for the people who are suffering from cancer.

I understand that this motion goes a lot further than just looking at PET scanners. Rather, it talks about a commitment to quality health care, something that we on this side of the House are totally committed to. It is not something that we have just discovered since the last election; it is something that we have been fighting for for many years. Unfortunately, under the previous government, quality health care was something that was delivered to just a few.

In the last parliament, I was a member of the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing at the time the report The blame game: report on the inquiry into health funding was tabled in parliament. I was deputy chair of that committee, which made a number of very important recommendations and identified a number of problems within the health system in Australia. That report was tabled in November 2006 and, believe it or not, by the time the last parliament—

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