Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition is very sensitive because we have called out Labor's lies in Longman. We have called out Labor's lies in Longman where they were running about and pretending that there have been cuts. You know what? Not only has there been, every year, in every state and territory, record funding for hospitals, record funding for Medicare and record funding for health under this government but, when you look at the very claims they make in Longman about Caboolture, there's an extraordinary story. Let me go right to the heart of the issue which seems to have excited them so much, because they have been caught out. Labor have been caught out, flat, plain lying as they did at the last election, but this time we're on to them from day 1.

What do we hear from them? We hear that the Caboolture Hospital has somehow had a cut. They're half right and they're half wrong. They're right because Queensland Labor has cut. They're wrong because the federal coalition government has increased. How do we know this? Because the activity based funding which has been published confirms this. Let me give you some examples. This goes to credibility. When we look at the figures for Metro North, which includes Longman and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, which I visited last week, and also includes Caboolture Hospital, we see that, over the last three years, coalition funding has gone up 38 per cent and Labor funding has gone up four per cent. But what is really instructive is to look at the last full year of funding. Coalition funding went up $120 million for the area, which includes Caboolture Hospital, in one year. What happened to Queensland Labor funding? There was a decrease of $21 million. So they were right in one respect. There have been some cuts to Caboolture Hospital and they are Queensland Labor's. They were silent on this. How could it be that you actually go there, stand outside the Caboolture Hospital and cover up your own side having made a cut of $21 million in the last year?

My favourite point is that the opposition shadow spokesperson for health loves to talk about the base year. So let me go to the base year, their last year of funding when they were in government. That was a $13 billion figure. Labor put in $13 billion, and since then the funding has gone up under the coalition to $14 billion for hospitals, to $15 billion for hospitals, to $17 billion to hospitals, to $18 billion to hospitals and to $20 billion—and in this budget the next four years are $21 billion, $22 billion, $23 billion and $24 billion. Each year, every year, every state, every territory: a record. That's the reality. And you know what is extraordinary? What you see is that funding has increased at a faster rate under the federal coalition than under the previous Labor government.

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

We were starting from your base! We were starting from Labor's base. Each year, every year, a record in funding, and each year, every year, what we've seen is that the coalition has increased at a faster rate than Labor. That is exactly what we are seeing. It is the same whether it's in Medicare or it's in health as a whole. What we see is that the overall health budget is up $12.4 billion this year.

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

$12.4 billion.

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

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