Trish Draper (Makin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister inform the House what the government has done to improve the position of nurses in Australia? Are there any alternative policies? What is the government’s response?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Makin for her question, and I acknowledge the many years that she has spent in the great calling of nursing. Thanks to the policies of the Howard government there are now more nurses in Australia and they are playing a more important role in our health system. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare there were just under 250,000 nurses in nursing in 2004, and that was an 11 per cent increase since 1999. Since 2005 the Howard government has announced a further 3,000 nursing training places. Since 2001 the government has committed some $234 million to improving the position of nurses in general practice. Thanks to the government’s policies there are now at least 5,000 nurses working in general practice, and those nurses are now supported by Medicare rebates. This is the first time that this has happened under any Australian government.

One thing the Howard government does not intend to do is create a Commonwealth position of chief nursing officer. Didn’t our failure to do this get the opposition very excited! Last year the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said:

At the most recent Nursing Leadership Conference in Sydney, Minister Abbott refused to appoint a Chief Nurse ... It seems the Minister for Health is happy to talk about the role of nurses when it suits him but has failed to take the profession of nursing seriously.

A month later she said, ‘A Labor government will appoint a chief nursing officer to ensure Australian nurses have a voice in the federal government.’ So it could not be clearer: Labor will appoint a chief nurse. But hang on a minute: two years into his time as the de facto Premier of Queensland, the now Leader of the Opposition sacked the chief nurse of Queensland. So Dr Death killed the chief nurse of Queensland.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will withdraw that reference.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to assist the House by withdrawing, Mr Speaker. This is what the Leader of the Opposition’s health minister in the Rudd Queensland Christian socialist Labor government told parliament in 1991: ‘I can confirm that under the restructured department of health the position of chief nursing officer for Queensland will disappear.’ Members opposite think the Commonwealth government, which does not employ nurses, must have a chief nurse but the Queensland government, which employs tens of thousands of nurses, must not have a chief nursing officer.

What is now clear is that members opposite in the Labor Party actually have four health policies. Their first policy is to have a single funder for health, if you believe the deputy leader. Their second policy is not to have a single funder for health, if you believe the shadow minister for federalism; their third policy is to have a chief nurse, if you believe the deputy leader; and their fourth policy is not to have a chief nurse, if you believe the Leader of the Opposition when he was the de facto Premier of Queensland.

He is a real piece of work, this bloke. He is not a socialist, but he is a Christian socialist. He attacks Howard’s utopia but he is happy to have Brian Burke as his Western Australian numbers man. He is a disciple of Dietrich Bonhoeffer when he is seeking Christian votes, but he is the associate of Brian Burke when he wants support in caucus.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will bring his answer to a conclusion.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the people of Australia are starting to get a sense of this bloke. They understand that deep down he is a phoney. He is a phoney.