House debates Personal Explanations

Monday, 23 February 2009 House of Representatives

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing

4:28 pm

Mr Speaker, I seek to make a personal explanation.

Harry Jenkins

Harry Jenkins Speaker

Does the member claim to have been misrepresented?

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing

Yes.

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing

I seek to correct the public record in relation to some of the comments that the Minister for Health and Ageing made during question time today. The comments that I made last week following the release of the interim report by the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission went to the incompetence of state governments which have run down public hospitals over the last 10 years.

Harry Jenkins

Harry Jenkins Speaker

Order! The member must state where he has been misrepresented.

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing

I was misrepresented by the minister because my comments did not reflect on the commission at all. Despite all the rhetoric from this government, the priority of the commission’s 400-page report was not to fix public hospitals. That is what this government was elected to do and it has not done it.