Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, what a contribution that was! It highlights the absolute hypocrisy that we constantly get from the other side in the health debate. First of all, we get eight or nine minutes of a contribution complaining about the fact that they do not have a PET scanner in Townsville. They were in government for 12 years and what did they do about it? They did absolutely nothing. This is so typical of the opposition. They might promise something, but they will not deliver a cent for health. In fact, it is quite the opposite—what they do in health is rip money out of the system.

You are absolutely right to be scuttling out of here with your tail between your legs, Member for Herbert, given that abysmal contribution you just made on health. Not only did you not deliver at all for the Townsville electorate in 12 years—and Labor is going to deliver—but you complain about a tendering process. I forgot, of course: we are talking about the opposition that love the Regional Partnerships program and rorts. They do not like tender processes. They do not like an objective way of choosing the best project—a project which is going to be delivered in a proper manner so taxpayers’ money is spent correctly and which is going to benefit the most people. No, we have opposition MPs who are actually going to go out and choose. They do not like this tender process because there is ‘too much paper work’, we hear—too much paper work in doing these things the right way.

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