Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

On the question of the $1 billion gouge out of the public hospital system, the Leader of the Opposition is obviously saying that the budget papers of the Howard government lie. I would not suggest that the Leader of the Opposition would make that accusation directly against his mentor, the former Prime Minister, Mr Howard, but if you go to the budget papers of 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 and what was going to happen in the subsequent forward estimates for the following year, 2007-08, you do not just have a billion dollars ripped out; you have more than that. What does that equal? It equals refusing the system 1,025 hospital beds. Tony, how could you deny funding for 1,025 hospital beds? Or, if you were translating it into—

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