Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his promise, made now more than two years ago, that when it came to the states’ mismanagement of health the buck would stop with him. With revelations that lives are again at risk because of basic failures in Bundaberg Hospital, why did the government refuse to act on its promise to take over hospitals if they were not fixed by 30 June this year? Prime Minister, is it a case of talk being easier than taking tough decisions?

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

I thank the member for Dickson very much for his question. I am sure he will be needing a temporary protection visa once he returns to Dickson, for protection from his local constituents! He raises a question concerning health and hospitals; I welcome this question. I welcome it fundamentally, because the government, prior to the last election, said that we were sick and tired of the blame game between the federal government and the states because that was the game in which the previous federal government engaged day in, day out. If you want practical evidence of it, as the member for Dickson has obviously not provided in any element of his question, I say to him that $1 billion was extracted from the public health budget by the Howard government for the states. That flowed through to hospitals like Bundaberg Hospital. So what we had was this rolling debate between the Australian government and the state governments as to who was responsible for what. There was one clear response from the Howard government—of which the Leader of the Opposition was a member—which was simply to withdraw funding from the states, including from the public hospital system: $1 billion.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Truss interjecting

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

The honourable member opposite interjects, ‘That is not true.’ I suggest he consults the statistics. Secondly, therefore, they ask what we have done in response in terms of taking responsibility—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

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

He says he is not asking what we are doing in terms of taking responsibility. Well, his question was about the buck stopping with us—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I see the member for Dickson is on his feet. The member for Dickson knows that if he approaches the dispatch box I expect him to go to a point of order directly and not enter into debate.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. At the Prime Minister’s request, the—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just to clarify—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will raise a point of order—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This was why the promise was broken—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Dutton interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. The problem I have is that the member for Dickson is a repeat offender in these matters. Now, I can easily give him the one hour but I do not really think that that is doing anything, because he has had six, seven or eight. I warn him—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot name him without a warning. If you want to change the rules for me, you can change the rules. If you want to say that after four or five one-hours, they are out for a day, change the rules. But the member for Dickson is warned, and he will sit there quietly during the response to his question.

Government Member:

It’s his birthday!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It may be his birthday, but he should behave! Prime Minister.

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

Mr Speaker, I am sure that his constituents are celebrating his return to his electorate.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will go back to the question.

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

The honourable member asked a question about taking responsibility for the system—the buck stopping with us. I am saying that in the period since the last election what we have done is increase hospital funding nationwide by 50 per cent—50 per cent. You took $1 billion out; we have injected 50 per cent extra in. What does that translate to in dollar terms? Over the five years of the Australian healthcare agreement, signed by me and the minister for health at the end of last year, there was an increase in funding to $64 billion over five years in health and hospitals. That is some $20 billion more. That is what I call action. The honourable member for Dickson seems to regard that as inaction. Their action was to take $1 billion out; our action was to put $20 billion in over five years. I regard that as a pretty basic thing.

Also on top of that, for the first time there was a $750 million investment in emergency departments, a $500 million investment for subacute care, $872 million in preventative care, and $600 million for elective surgery waiting lists. Also on top of the above, there was $1.1 billion for the health workforce. The honourable member asked about the health workforce, for example, because it is about taking responsibility. What did we inherit? We inherited a health workforce shortage affecting 60 per cent of Australians, a nursing shortage of 6,000 nurses nationwide, and GP training places capped at 600 per year since 2004. We inherited, as far as the Australian government was concerned, an entire catalogue of neglect. We have stepped up to the plate in the here and now, as reflected through the healthcare agreement signed by the minister at the end of last year and which is now operational. That is step 1.

Step 2 is long-term reform. What the health minister and I have done since the election is engage in a series of consultations with hospitals based on the report of the independent commission, the health reform commission chaired by Dr Christine Bennett. Those opposite say, ‘This is something extraordinary.’ Let me hear them say what their reform plan was in their 12 years in office. Can anyone tell me what it was? I say to the member for Dickson: what was the health reform plan of the previous government? You had 12 years to have one. I just do not remember one. There was not a health reform plan—nothing to do with the hospitals, nothing to do with the totality of the health system, nothing to do with systemic health reform. They wanted to play the blame game.

We said that we would commission an independent review. We did so. Christine Bennett concluded that, gave it to the government midyear, and we are now in the process of concluding consultations with about 80 public hospitals across Australia, right down the various centres along the Queensland coast, New South Wales and in every other state in the country. I think I have done nearly 20 of those myself, the health minister has done 40 or 50 herself, the assistant health minister and member for Lingiari has done the same, and of course so has our parliamentary secretary as well. Do you know why? We are road-testing the recommendations for long-term health reform with each of these hospital communities because we are determined to get this right. We believe health policy is important for the future because the health system is straining under the future demands imposed on it. Where we plan for the future, those opposite simply have a blame game for the past.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before giving the call to the member for Lyons, I note that the Minister for Finance and Deregulation has been on his best behaviour today and I ponder whether this could be because the CEO, the outgoing President and the President-elect of the Essendon Football Club are in the gallery. If this is so because he is now the No. 1 ticket holder, they are not only welcome today, they could be in here every day and we would not get his impression of Ronnie Andrews every day! The member for Lyons.