Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I understand completely why the member for Dobell would want to get New South Wales Labor out of the health system. I understand why he, as a New South Wales member, would want New South Wales Labor as far away as possible at the next federal election in a few months time because anything the New South Wales Labor Party has touched in recent times does not turn out to be all that good. So I can understand his desperate desire to talk about getting rid of the New South Wales government’s role in the health system.

But, unfortunately, the so-called plan of the Prime Minister does not do that; it does not do much at all. It is a health policy for an election, not for the future, which is just so typical of this Prime Minister. Unfortunately, as much as it pains me to do it, I have to disagree with the three points in the motion of the member for Solomon on health and hospitals. There are only three points in it. I disagree with each of them and it is very rare for me to disagree with the member for Solomon. I cannot congratulate this government for yet another spin job. I cannot acknowledge an investment which does not exist. I cannot accept the third point, which just continues to outline a complete fib that those on the other side have been told to push around by the hollow men up there in the Prime Minister’s office about the so-called record of the Leader of the Opposition, who was a very good minister when he was the Minister for Health and Ageing.

When it comes to this Prime Minister, this is his record on health. He promised to fix hospitals by mid-2009 and he has failed. He promised to take them over and he has not. He promised to deliver 36 GP superclinics—not super GP clinics but GP superclinics—but only three are open. We have just heard about the temporary one in the electorate of Dobell, which is alongside the temporary deficit. He promised to recruit 7,500 hospital nurses, but only 1,000 were recruited in 2008 and just 617 recruited in the last two years. He promised to recruit 1,000 nurses for aged care but only 139 were recruited. He has now dumped the Bringing Nurses Back into the Workforce scheme. He promised to deliver 12 defence health clinics but not one has opened. Finally, he promised to cut elective surgery waiting lists, but they are longer than they have ever been.

You cannot trust Rudd Labor when it comes to health, like you cannot trust them on the economy and you cannot trust them to implement any sort of program. When they cannot implement a pink batts program, how can you trust them with the $100 billion health system?

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