Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on his plan to reform the health and hospital systems and of any impediments to the implementation of this plan?

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

I thank the honourable member for Chifley for his question because we have had today not a single question from those opposite on health and hospital reform—not a single question. We stand here as a government that, within its two years in office, have delivered a 50 per cent increase in funding to public hospitals and of that the government is proud. What the government have done in our two years in office is to increase our overall training for GPs by a 35 per cent increase in GP training places. The government are proud of the fact that we have increased the number of training places for nurses. We have invested some $3 billion in the capital needs of our system and more than $1 billion in the overall cancer related infrastructure that we need right across Australia both in our larger cities and in our regional centres. That is what we have done in two years in office.

I say to those opposite, in particular the Leader of the Opposition, who did act as health minister for four to five years, he has been very touchy indeed today on his $1 billion gouge from the system. I think what we have had from the Leader of the Opposition is someone who has been somewhat loose with the truth on this question. What did the Leader of the Opposition actually say when first confronted with this? On 10 February when asked this question on radio, Mr Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition, said, ‘I did not rip a billion dollars out of health, the rate of growth was slowed somewhat.’ That was the excuse back then. Then we go to excuse No. 2 on the billion-dollar gouge from the system. In a penetrating and provocative interview, very searching in its questions from Alan Jones, on 2GB the Leader of the Opposition when asked this question about his billion-dollar gouge from the system—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

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

The member for Sturt is warned!

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

What did the Leader of the Opposition have to say? He said as follows, ‘I did not rip a billion dollars out of health.’ He went on to say, ‘What happened was that in 1996, long before I was health minister, the forward estimates were reduced by $1 billion.’ But that is not true. Let us go back again to the budget papers referred to earlier today by the Minister for Finance and Deregulation. What do the 1996-97 budget papers actually show was the reduction in health expenditure then? The 1996-97 budget papers show a reduction of $312 billion. That was a misleading statement by the Leader of the Opposition on the radio program as he sought simply to slough it off and say, ‘Not my responsibility, it was those bad people back in 1996.’ Peter Costello was Treasurer at the time and later made some reflections about the overall level of economic competence of the current Leader of the Opposition which were that, in fact, he had none at all.

We then move on to excuse No. 3, and that is the Leader of the Opposition out there, day after day, saying he had nothing whatsoever to do with the billion-dollar gouge out of the system. But once again facts confront us.

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

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

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

He says, ‘Wrong, wrong, wrong’ again. Why could you dispute the accuracy of the Howard government’s budget papers 2003-04—not a production of the Australian Labor Party in opposition, not the production of the tooth fairy but the production of the Howard government itself. It says in 2003-04 that the health budget had $108.9 million taken out of it. That was Tony Abbott’s first year as health minister. In 2004-05 $172 million was taken out of it. That was Tony Abbott’s second year as health minister.

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

Order! The Prime Minister will refer to members by their parliamentary titles.

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

In 2005-06 there was $264 million. That was his third year as health minister. In 2006-07 there was $372 million. That was his fourth year as health minister. But, as the Minister for Finance and Deregulation informed the House, the parliament and the country today, if you went to the Department of Health and Ageing and sought clarification about what was in the forward estimates for 2007-08, it was another $497 million taken out. This adds up to a figure in excess of $1 billion; we have been generous in what we have said about the gouge out of the system by the Leader of the Opposition.

On each one of these things what we have had is a Leader of the Opposition caught out in absolute embarrassment, not telling the truth to the parliament about these matters. But on the overall reform of the system—the overall gouge and its impact on the health and hospital system of Australia—what was the ultimate excuse of the Leader of the Opposition today, not 1996, not any of that but this one—the pearler of them all? Yes, it was, ‘We were about to start tackling the public hospital system when we lost office.’ Is it any wonder no-one has any confidence in anything this Leader of the Opposition has to say about health and hospitals reform? He has not told the truth about his billion-dollar gouge, he has no plan for the future and he only said he was going to act five minutes before the last election.

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.